LDP to Hold Presidential Election: Candidates Need to Engage in Debate for Party Reconstruction

Editorial

16:20 JST, September 10, 2025

Including votes from rank-and-file members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in its presidential election certainly has the downside of prolonging the political vacuum.

On the other hand, the LDP stands at a critical juncture regarding whether it can survive as a national party. It appears to have concluded that its priority is to listen to the wide range of voices of its rank-and-file members in electing a new president, so as to establish a stable unified party structure.

The LDP held meetings, including one by its presidential election management committee, and decided to include voting by rank-and-file party members in the election to select Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s successor. The schedule for the election was set with the official start of the campaign on Sept. 22, and voting and ballot counting on Oct. 4.

Over 50 days have already passed since the House of Councillors election in July. In addition, it will take nearly another month to select a new president.

In cases like this in which the party presidency becomes vacant partway through a presidential term, LDP rules allow the party to omit voting by rank-and-file members and elect a new president solely through the votes of its Diet members and prefectural chapter representatives.

However, that would risk spurring dissatisfaction among rank-and-file members. The LDP may believe that it must reflect diverse opinions if it is going to try to rebuild itself almost from the ground up.

In a full-scale leadership election that includes voting by rank-and-file members, candidates will give stump speeches and engage in other activities in various locations nationwide. It is important to use such opportunities to discuss the course that Japan should take.

The new president’s future cannot be described as bright. The LDP and its coalition partner Komeito have lost their majority in both houses of the Diet. There is no guarantee that the new president will be elected prime minister.

Presidential candidates have a responsibility to clarify how they intend to build cooperative frameworks with opposition parties, with an eye toward expanding the coalition government.

Discussions have stalled on measures to combat high prices, which were a point of contention in the recent upper house election campaign. The LDP proposed a ¥20,000 cash handout per person, while many opposition parties called for the abolition of the consumption tax or lowering its rates.

The new president will be tested on their insight and fortitude regarding how to formulate realistic economic measures while securing cooperation from the opposition in their management of the administration.

The new LDP leadership must work to convene an extraordinary Diet session as soon as possible and move forward with various policies.

Former LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi has declared his candidacy for the presidential election. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi and Takayuki Kobayashi, former minister in charge of economic security, are considering running. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Sanae Takaichi, former minister in charge of economic security, are seen as strong candidates. All five ran in last year’s race.

In the July upper house election, the LDP and the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan were seen as “established parties” and were pushed back by emerging forces. For the LDP to regain support, there is no alternative but to demonstrate its ability to run the government through realistic, constructive proposals.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 10, 2025)