‘I Will Lead Japan’: Digital Minister Taro Kono Announces Bid for LDP Presidency

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:00 JST, August 26, 2024

Digital minister Taro Kono announced Monday he will run in the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election on Sept. 27.

“I will lead Japan and move it forward,” Kono, 61, said at a press conference in the Diet Building.

This is the third time that Kono has run for president.

Elected nine times to the House of Representatives from Kanagawa Constituency No. 15, Kono has served as National Public Safety Commission chairperson, foreign minister and defense minister. Under former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Cabinet, Kono served as minister of administrative reform and also was in charge of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Kono is the third person to officially announce his candidacy, following former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, 49, and former LDP’s Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba, 67.