Japan's governing party holds leadership election that will determine the next prime minister

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's governing party is holding its leadership election on Friday that will determine the nation's new prime minister.

The winner of the vote by the Liberal Democratic Party is assured of being chosen prime minister in a parliamentary vote next week because the governing coalition controls both houses.

No one won a majority in the first round of voting, forcing a runoff among former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who has been ranked No. 1 in media surveys, and Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, a staunch conservative who ran against Kishida in 2021. If Takaichi wins, she would become Japan’s first female prime minister.

A record nine lawmakers, including two women, vied for the job, with backroom dealing among party heavyweights making the outcome hard to predict.

The current p rime minister, Fumio Kishida, has been dogged by party corruption scandals, and the LDP is looking for a fresh leader in hopes of regaining public trust before a looming general election.

The vote is limited to LDP members of parliament and about 1 million dues-paying party members. That’s only 1% of the country’s eligible voters.

Past votes were often determined by the party’s powerful faction leaders, but that may change this time because all but one of the six factions has announced their dissolution following the corruption scandals.

There's widespread worry among experts that the removal of faction support from whoever wins could mean Japan will return to an era similar to the early 2000s, which saw “revolving door” leadership changes and political instability.

A succession of short-lived governments hurts Japanese prime ministers' ability to set up long-term policy goals or develop trusted relations with other leaders.

Women make up only 10.3% of Japan’s lower house of parliament. That makes the country 163rd for female representation among 190 countries examined in an April report by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union.

On Tuesday, Kishida and his Cabinet ministers will resign. The new leader, after being formally elected in a parliamentary vote, will then form a new Cabinet later in the day.

The main opposition — the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan — has struggled to build momentum, despite the LDP scandals. But experts say its newly elected leader, centrist former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, is pushing a conservative shift for the party, could trigger a broader political regroupings.