Once Allies, Ishiba, Kono, Koizumi to Fight over LDP Election Votes

Jiji Press

16:18 JST, August 25, 2024

Tokyo (Jiji Press)—Former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba, digital transformation minister Taro Kono and former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi are expected to scuffle for support in an upcoming presidential election for the Japanese ruling party, after cooperating in the previous 2021 party election.

The three, collectively dubbed the “Koishikawa coalition” after kanji characters from each of their last names, will part ways for the Sept. 27 LDP presidential election to jostle for party member support.

On Saturday, Ishiba announced that he will run in the upcoming election, which will be held to decide a successor to current LDP chief and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Kono will hold a press conference on Monday to announce his candidacy, while Koizumi is expected to declare his bid on Friday.

While Ishiba has voiced hopes for the three to work together, many within the party are not convinced that cooperation is on the table in the looming election.

“Even if we compete (for the LDP top spot) in this election, we still share a fundamental connection,” Ishiba told reporters on Friday, hinting at future cooperation between the three well-known figures.

In the previous party presidential election three years ago, which was won by Kishida, Kono threw his hat in the ring, receiving the backing of both Ishiba and Koizumi.

With the then biggest LDP faction that was led by the late former LDP Secretary-General Hiroyuki Hosoda in mind, Kono had emphasized the need for a party revamp, with Ishiba saying that the election was “a fight between a superannuated LDP and the people.”

Although Kono gathered the largest number of votes from rank-and-file party members and supporters, he was third in terms of vote count among LDP lawmakers, with Koizumi commenting that the results were “a near complete defeat” for the Kono camp.

The relationship between Ishiba, Kono and Koizumi changed following a string of LDP faction disbandments spearheaded by Kishida in response to a political funds scandal that hit the party’s factions.

Despite the wave of faction dissolutions, a faction led by LDP Vice President Taro Aso was kept as it was and Kono decided to remain as a member of the Aso faction.

This led to a rift between Kono and the Ishiba-Koizumi pair, whose political activities are not affiliated with any particular faction.

Public opinion polls conducted by media outlets in Japan have all highlighted the popularity of Ishiba, Kono and Koizumi.

Touching on the three hugely popular figures all vying for the LDP presidential seat in the upcoming election, an LDP official said, “Competition for party member votes is expected to be fierce.”

Shigeru Sato, head of the party’s branch in the city of Yokohama, south of Tokyo, said, “We will work on concentrating our votes on Koizumi.”

LDP lawmaker Yoshihide Suga, Kishida’s immediate predecessor who will likely back Koizumi in the upcoming election, has a strong influence over the LDP’s Yokohama branch.

With many more candidates expected to run for LDP president, there is a possibility that none of the candidates will manage to win the first round of voting by securing a majority of votes, meaning that the next LDP president may be picked through a runoff voting process.

While many speculate that the moves of the Koishikawa coalition may determine the outcome of the voting, a mid-ranking lawmaker said, “As the Koishikawa coalition is built on a calculating relationship, its cooperation is a complete fiction.”