MNI BRIEF: Kono, Kishida To Face Off In LDP Leadership Runoff

A runoff will take place on Wednesday for the leadership of Japan's dominant Liberal Democratic Party after none of the four candidates captured more than 50%, pitting Taro Kono against Fumio Kishida after a close fought initial round.

Kono, the libe

ral and outspoken vaccine minister, captured 255 of the 762 case by 382 lawmakers and 380 party members from every prefecture at the LDP. Kishida, former LDP policy chief, got 256 of the 764.

Sanae Takaichi, the hard-line conservative former party policy chief and a protege of Shinzo Abe, got 188 of the 762 voters and Seiko Noda, a former minister of internal affairs, got 63 of the 762 voters.

The two candidates in the runoff will fight for the same 382 Diet votes, plus 47 votes representing each of Japan's prefectures. The winner of the LDP presidential election will become prime minister because of the ruling coalition's majority in the powerful lower house and will take the party into a general election in November, see: MNI: Race To Lead Japan's LDP To Impact Future BOJ.

The government is considering a special parliamentary session that would convene on Oct. 4 to formally elect the LDP's new leader as prime minister.