Ishiba Hopes Successor Will Carry on His Policies; Avoids Naming Specific Candidate He Supports

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:00 JST, September 23, 2025

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tuesday that he hopes a candidate who will carry on his policies will win the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidency, though he avoided naming a specific candidate he would support.

“I hope the person who is ultimately chosen will be someone who has sweated with my administration and put all their energy into working with us, someone who will carry on its basic policies,” Ishiba, who is also the current LDP president, told reporters at the Prime Minister’s official residence.

From Ishiba’s Cabinet, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shinjiro Koizumi have declared their candidacies for the LDP leadership election, to be held on Oct. 4. Other candidates — former economic security ministers Takayuki Kobayashi and Sanae Takaichi, as well as former LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi — have maintained some distance from Ishiba.

Later on Tuesday, Ishiba departed Haneda Airport aboard a government aircraft bound for New York to attend the ongoing meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. He will deliver his address on Wednesday, Japan time.