The biggest faction within Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, previously led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, decided Thursday to tap a senior lawmaker as the chair of the group under the collective executive system.
The appointment of House of Representatives member Ryu Shionoya as the chairman of the Seiwakai faction was unanimously approved at the group's plenary meeting, more than one year after Abe was fatally shot during an election campaign speech in July 2022.
With expectations growing that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will carry out a Cabinet reshuffle in September, the largest group within the LDP rushed to fill the vacancy in the top position of the faction, while also deciding to set up a new executive body.
In the history of the LDP, which has dominated Japan's politics for most of the period since 1955, the party's biggest group has played a crucial role in various decision-making processes, especially in the selection of the prime minister.
Even after leaving office for health reasons in 2020, Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, maintained his influence. He took up the leadership of the LDP's largest faction the following year, prompting critics to bash him for trying to become a kingmaker.
Following Abe's assassination, the LDP group, which has a total of 100 lawmakers in both houses of parliament, was unable to name a successor to its slain chief, with some members aiming for collective leadership to ensure unity and prevent potential fragmentation.
Abe, known as a conservative and hawkish politician, was prime minister for around one year from 2006 and nearly eight years after a comeback in 2012.