Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba heads into the Oct. 27 general election having to look over his shoulder at a key member of his own Liberal Democratic Party who is stepping up efforts to ensure that, no matter the results, his time as leader is short.
Since the race kicked off on Oct. 15, former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi has crisscrossed the country to give stump speeches on behalf of many candidates. While Ishiba and the party’s election chief, Shinjiro Koizumi, avoided slush fund scandal-tainted LDP members, Takaichi did not. She received invitations to speak from over 120 candidates, including Koichi Hagiuda and others forced to run without party endorsement.
Her stops included an Oct. 20 appearance in front of Nara’s Saidaiji Station, where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was killed while giving a stump speech on behalf of a candidate during the July 2022 Upper House campaign.
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