Politics & Government

LDP Eyeing Diet Votes on New Prime Minister for Oct. 20 at Earliest

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Liberal Democratic Party Diet affairs chief Hiroshi Kajiyama, left, meets with his counterpart from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Hirofumi Ryu, at the Diet Building in Tokyo on Friday.

Jiji Press

12:53 JST, October 11, 2025

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday proposed that an extraordinary session of the Diet be convened as early as Oct. 20 and that votes to pick the next prime minister take place at the start of the session.

The proposal was made by LDP Diet affairs chief Hiroshi Kajiyama to his counterpart from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Hirofumi Ryu, at their meeting held at the Diet Building.

Ryu said that the matter would be discussed among key members of the steering committee of the House of Representatives. In a separate meeting later in the day, the LDP and CDPJ parliamentary affairs chiefs in the House of Councillors agreed to consider the proposed schedule.

Kajiyama apologized for a delay in convening the extraordinary Diet session due to the LDP’s presidential election held last week, and the party’s talks with Komeito over whether the latter would remain in the ruling bloc following the LDP election. Komeito decided Friday to leave the ruling coalition.

Ryu said that the current situation is regrettable.

The ruling and opposition parties plan to hold a board meeting of the steering committees of both parliamentary chambers as early as Wednesday to discuss when to convene the extraordinary session and hold votes to elect the next prime minister.

With Komeito’s decision to end its partnership with the LDP, uncertainties are growing over whether new LDP President Sanae Takaichi will be named prime minister in the upcoming Diet election.

Still, the LDP is pushing to convene the extraordinary Diet session as soon as possible, in the run-up to many key diplomatic events.

A series of summits related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is set to kick off Oct. 26 in Malaysia, while a Japan-U.S. summit is eyed for Oct. 28. A summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is scheduled to take place in South Korea from Oct. 31.

Japan’s next administration led by a new prime minister needs to be launched by Oct. 24, people familiar with the matter said.