Nine candidates are running in the Sept. 27 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election, but it’s three LDP veterans acting as behind-the-scenes kingmakers whose decisions will heavily influence the result: Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, his predecessor Yoshide Suga and LDP Vice President Taro Aso, also a former Japanese leader.
Two members of Kishida’s former faction — Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi and Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa — are running, although the prime minister hasn’t endorsed a successor. Aso is backing digital minister Taro Kono, who belongs to his faction, but told its members they weren't bound by that decision.
Suga, outside the party’s mainstream since stepping down as prime minister in 2021, appears to be in the strongest position among the three. He is backing former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who, along with former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba, has topped recent media polls about who the public and party members prefer to lead the LDP.
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