Hayashi to Announce LDP Leadership Race Candidacy on Tuesday

Jiji Press

10:59 JST, September 15, 2025

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, 64, will announce on Tuesday his intention to run in the Oct. 4 leadership election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, informed sources said Sunday.

He will explain to reporters the reasons for deciding to run for the race to pick the successor of outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. This marks Hayashi’s third bid for the party presidency, following his previous runs in 2012 and 2024.

Former LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi, 69, and former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, 50, have already declared their candidacies. Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, has also conveyed his intention to run to those around him and supporters in his constituency in Kanagawa Prefecture. Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, 64, plans to hold a press conference this week to announce her intention to become a candidate.

Hayashi was first elected to the House of Councillors in the Yamaguchi constituency in 1995. During his fifth term in the upper house, he switched to the Yamaguchi No. 3 Constituency of the House of Representatives and was elected in the 2021 election. He is currently serving his second term in the lower house.

He has served as agriculture minister and foreign minister, and was appointed chief cabinet secretary in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in December 2023. He was reappointed to the position in the Ishiba Cabinet when it was formed in October 2024.