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Japan's Ruling LDP to Hold Presidential Election on April 22
Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) plans to hold its presidential election on April 22 to select the successor to the incumbent Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, reported Japan's Asahi Shimbun daily on Thursday, quoting sources in LDP and the government.
A new cabinet is expected to be launched following the approval by Diet (parliament) after the election, the newspaper said in its front-page story.
The winner of the party race would automatically become the next Japanese prime minister as the LDP-led coalition dominates the House of Representatives, which has the final say in selecting a prime minister.
Mori is set to meet with LDP executives soon to discuss details of the planned party election after the Diet passes bills relating to the state budget for fiscal 2001, the Asahi said.
The LDP leadership is considering choosing a new president by votes from LDP lawmakers in the Diet and representatives of LDP prefectural chapters, with the weight of votes cast by prefectural chapter chiefs expected to be increased from one each to two to three each, it reported.
The candidates running in the party race will likely depend on moves by the LDP's largest faction led by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, observers say.
It remains in dark whether the faction would fields its own candidate, such as Hashimoto or former LDP Secretary-General Hiromu Nonaka, or helps other factions field a third candidate such as Taro Aso, state minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy belonging to a minor LDP faction led by Foreign Minister Yohei Kono.
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