LDP Launches Survey on Desired Positions; Mid-Ranking and Junior Party Members Eyed for Several Positions

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:36 JST, September 29, 2024

With most of its factions dissolved, the Liberal Democratic Party is using its new personnel system for the first time in the party’s latest reshuffle.

The party headquarters on Friday afternoon launched an online survey of all LDP members in the House of Representative asking about which positions they hoped to fill, after Shigeru Ishiba was elected as the new president of the party. Based on the results of the survey, the new party leadership will choose senior vice ministers, parliamentary secretaries and chairpersons of party committees mainly from mid-ranking and junior members of the party.

In traditional personnel reshuffles, each party faction asked its members about their desired positions. For positions shared by multiple lawmakers, each faction was often allocated a quota.

However, the LDP now prohibits factions from being involved in personnel reshuffles and lets the party secretary general and other party executives take the lead in personnel decisions, as part of reforms that followed the political funds scandal involving party factions.

Still, the survey must be submitted by noon on Monday, leading some bewildered party members to say it came out of the blue.

Ishiba does not have many personal connections within the party, which is why it will be a challenge for him to build a team comprised of members he can trust and ask for advice.

In 2015, Ishiba launched his own “Ishiba faction” comprised of members well-versed in policy matters, including Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ken Saito; former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura; and former Justice Minister Takashi Yamashita.

However, his leadership waned after he lost the LDP presidential elections in 2018 and 2020, and the Ishiba faction was dissolved in 2021. Another Ishiba-led group, Suigetsu-kai, submitted its notice of dissolution to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry in September.

“If we can’t get former members back onboard, we’ll continue to feel uneasy,” an aide close to Ishiba said.

Some are concerned about Ishiba’s connections with Komeito, LDP’s junior coalition partner. When he served as secretary general of the LDP, Ishiba deepened his friendship with then Komeito Secretary General Yoshihisa Inoue and other Komeito members. However, he has had little to do with the party since Inoue retired from politics in 2021, according to a source close to Komeito.