Campaign for LDP leadership race starts to pick PM Abe's successor

TOKYO, Sept. 8 Kyodo - Official campaigning for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election began Tuesday, with outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's right-hand man vowing to carry on Abe's policies and two former ministers calling for change as they vie to replace him. The winner will become Japan's next prime minister, given the party's dominance of parliament. The three men who filed their candidacies are Yoshihide Suga, 71, who has been chief Cabinet secretary for nearly eight years, Shigeru Ishiba, 63, a former defense minister and vocal critic of Abe, and Fumio Kishida, 63, a former foreign minister and currently the LDP's policy chief. Abe is stepping down due to health concerns before his term as LDP president ends in September next year. The leadership election will be held next Monday, and the new prime minister will be installed at an extraordinary Diet session to be convened on Sept. 16. Suga, who is widely seen as the front-runner in the race, reiterated his stance to carry on Abe's policies as someone who has long supported the administration as the top government spokesman. "I will carry on the works of Prime Minister Abe and hope to move them forward further," said Suga. He called for eliminating sectionalism at ministries and creating a digital agency as the coronavirus pandemic has underscored the need to facilitate online medical examinations and administrative procedures as well as education using advanced online technology. While Suga has secured the backing of the majority of 394 LDP lawmakers who will vote, the focus of the election is also on how many votes Ishiba and Kishida can attract as the election serves as a bellwether for the next presidential election to be held by the end of September next year. Ishiba is seeking a departure from Abe's policies, saying he wants to reset Japan and "rewrite its blueprint." The country cannot survive the next era without it, Ishiba said. He said he will decentralize the Tokyo-centric economy and create a disaster management agency, saying the disaster-prone country needs a unified response system. "I have realized the significance of the ability to listen to the people in politics," said Kishida. Kishida praised Abe's achievements in the economic and diplomatic fronts but called for addressing the income gap in Japan, pledging to raise the minimum wage and reduce education costs. The party has decided to hold an abridged version of the leadership election this time to pick a successor as quickly as possible as Abe is stepping down in the middle of his term amid the current challenges in responding to the coronavirus pandemic. If the election were held under usual procedures, candidates would have needed to secure a majority of the 788 votes up for grabs, with Diet members and rank-and-file members holding 394 votes each. But the scaled-down version will be held with the 394 Diet member votes and a total of 141 votes cast by three delegates each from the party's 47 prefectural chapters. Most of the local chapters are holding primaries. With the pandemic, as well as a powerful typhoon, hitting southwestern Japan, the candidates will refrain from taking part in debates or from giving outdoor stump speeches. They have instead been presenting their policies online and through appearances on TV programs. ==Kyodo