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Japan's Ruling LDP to Hold Presidential Election on April 24
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) plans to hold its presidential election on April 24 to choose a successor to embattled Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, said Kazuo Tanikawa, the head of an LDP presidential election panel on Thursday.
Mori and LDP Secretary General Makoto Koga agreed in principle on the date in talks on Wednesday, Tanikawa told reporters after a panel meeting, adding that the date for filing candidacies was not discussed at Thursday's panel meeting.
Mori, one of the lowest approval ratings of any Japanese prime ministers, has agreed to bring forward from September the election for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidency, paving the way for his resignation as early as this month.
The new LDP chief would automatically become the next Japanese prime minister as the party dominates the three-way ruling coalition of LDP, New Komeito and New Conservative Party.
With less than three weeks to go before the LDP presidential election, the confusion still reigns over who will take over.
Calls for former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to run are mounting in the largest LDP faction, led by Hashimoto himself. But the group, which holds the key to the race, is still split over whether to back Hashimoto or former LDP Secretary General Hiromu Nonaka.
Meanwhile, former Health and Welfare Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the nominal head of the Mori's faction inside LDP, gained the support from senior officials of the group in a meeting Thursday morning.
"Many said he (Koizumi) should run. He himself is eager to stand," said Masajuro Shiokawa, a senior party member in Mori's faction.
LDP policy chief Shizuka Kamei suggested on Wednesday he may run while Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy Taro Aso and Justice Minister Masahiko Komura are also possible candidates.
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