Japan’s LDP President Ishiba Taps Former PM Suga as Party’s Vice President; Eyes October Lower House Dissolution (Update1)

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:56 JST, September 29, 2024 (updated at 19:00 JST, Sept. 29)

Newly elected Liberal Democratic Party President Shigeru Ishiba decided on Sunday to appoint former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, 75, as the party’s vice president.

The post is currently held by former Prime Minister Taro Aso, 84.

For Cabinet posts, Ishiba plans to appoint former Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya, 67, as foreign minister and place Gen Nakatani, 66, back in his former post of defense minister.

Ishiba also plans to appoint State Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Toshiko Abe, 65, as education minister; Chairperson of the LDP Policy Board in the House of Councillors Takamaro Fukuoka, 51, as health, labor and welfare minister; and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Yasuhiro Ozato, 66, as agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister.

He will also appoint Chairman of the Rules and Administration Committee for the upper house Keiichiro Asao, 60, as environment minister; former State Minister of Cabinet Office Masaaki Taira, 57, as digital minister; and State Minister of Finance Ryosei Akazawa, 63, as the minister in charge of economic revitalization.

Former State Minister for Foreign Affairs Minoru Kiuchi, 59, will be appointed economic security minister.

Ishiba is also making arrangements to tap former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Manabu Sakai, 59, and former health minister Junko Mihara, 60 for cabinet posts.

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, 68, who ran in the LDP presidential race, will likely be appointed as finance minister. LDP Diet Affairs Committee Acting Chairperson Nobuhide Minorikawa, 60, is also expected to receive a cabinet position.

Ishiba is mulling keeping Tetsuo Saito, 72, of Komeito as minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism. There has also been speculation that former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, 64, will be appointed as the LDP Policy Research Council’s chairperson.

Oct. 27 eyed for election

Ishiba has begun gearing up for dissolving the House of Representatives in mid-October to hold a general election before the end of November.

He plans to officially announce party executives on Monday and form a new cabinet the following day after being nominated as prime minister at an extraordinary Diet session to be convened on the day.

The earliest possible date for a lower house dissolution will likely be Oct. 9 for an Oct. 27 general election, with campaigning to begin on Oct. 15.

Takaichi firmly declines offer

Economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, 63, who faced Ishiba in a runoff in the LDP presidential election, firmly declined an offer to become the LDP General Council’s chairperson, according to sources.

Ishiba sounded out Takaichi about assuming the post, but she turned it down, saying she wanted him to appoint lawmakers who supported her in the presidential race, the sources said. With her move, intra-party discord may become apparent.