Government, Liberal Democratic Party to Convene Extraordinary Diet Session in October; New LDP President Will Likely Be Chosen as Prime Minister

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:51 JST, September 29, 2025

The government and the Liberal Democratic Party have entered the final phase of coordination to convene an extraordinary Diet session in mid-October, during which the successor to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will be elected, according to sources in the government and the LDP.

The opposition parties are struggling to unite to compete against the ruling camp, so it is highly likely that whoever has become the new LDP president will be chosen as the next prime minister.

The extraordinary Diet session is expected to be convened on Oct. 14 at the earliest. Voting for the LDP presidential election will be held on Oct. 4, and the new party president may choose people to fill major party offices as early as Oct 6.

Typically, not long after that, an extraordinary Diet session is convened and the new prime minister elected launches their new Cabinet.

When Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was elected LDP president in September last year, the next extraordinary Diet session was convened four days later.

Because the ruling camp is a minority government in both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, the ruling parties seem to be taking more time than usual to convene the Diet session so that they can negotiate with opposition parties to expand the framework of their current coalition.

However, as diplomatic schedules are set in late October, the new prime minister has to be chosen by the middle of the month.