TOKYO, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Campaigning for the leadership race of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to choose the successor to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga officially began on Friday, with four veteran lawmakers competing for the leader position.
The LDP election is set for Sept. 29 and is being contested by former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, former communications minister Sanae Takaichi, vaccination minister Taro Kono and Seiko Noda, executive acting secretary-general of the LDP.
The winner of the LDP race will become prime minister as the party controls the House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of parliament, since Suga has announced earlier this month that he would not seek re-election amid the public dissatisfaction with his COVID-19 response.
Among four candidates, Kono, 58, with his reform-minded policies, was viewed as the early front-runner. He gained supports from junior lawmakers with more vulnerable seats, and tops opinion polls on who should succeed Suga as prime minister. Kono also won the backing of Shigeru Ishiba, former defense minister who decided to sit out the race.
Kishida, 64, is expected to gather supports from veteran lawmakers who are uncomfortable with Kono's reformist ideas, as well as to be backed by his own 47-member faction.
Both Takaichi and Noda are aiming to become Japan's first female prime minister.
Noda, 61, announced her bid on Thursday. Her late entry made it harder to predict who the eventual winner will be.
Takaichi, 60, belongs to the LDP's right-leaning cohort and is closely allied with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
After campaigning, the LDP Diet members and rank-and-file members will cast their ballots on the election, and whoever secures a majority of votes will be declared winner. If no candidate gains an outright majority in the first round, a runoff will be held between the top two contenders.
In the first round, each of the LDP's 383 Diet members will cast a vote and another 383 votes will be determined based on the preferences of rank-and-file members who are at least 20 years of age, hold Japanese nationality, and have paid membership fees in the previous two years in principle.
In a runoff, the 383 Diet members and each of the LDP's 47 prefectural chapters will cast votes. Enditem
