The Liberal Democratic Party's factional interests appear to have put former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto into pole position in the race to find a successor to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

Hashimoto came under the spotlight after LDP power broker Hiromu Nonaka reportedly said Tuesday night that the LDP's largest faction, headed by Hashimoto, should unite behind its leader for the party race later this month, which will effectively determine the next prime minister.

Nonaka, who was once considered Mori's most likely replacement, also belongs to the Hashimoto faction.

Hashimoto, like most other prospective candidates in the race, has remained silent about his intention to run. If he runs, however, the chances are that he will be the leading contender because of the dominance of his faction and of those that have allied themselves with his group in the main ruling party.

In addition to the 101-member Hashimoto faction, two other major LDP groups -- the Eto-Kamei faction, with 55 Diet members, and the Horiuchi faction, which has 42 -- have been searching for a consensus candidate that can protect their common interest: maintaining the status quo within the LDP. If the three factions unite behind Hashimoto, they will number 198, or about 60 percent of the LDP's Diet contingent.

Nonaka, who some political pundits had tagged as Mori's most likely successor, has repeatedly said he is "200 percent unlikely" to stand for the

party leadership, claiming his job as the Hashimoto faction's second-in-command is to maintain its unity.

Even though leaders of the LDP's coalition partners -- New Komeito and the New Conservative Party -- have expressed their support for Nonaka, many within the Hashimoto faction itself were strongly opposed to him running for the position of party chief.

But even if Hashimoto should decide to run, many may still wonder if Hashimoto can bring victory to the ruling coalition in the crucial Upper House election in July. The tripartite alliance's fear of defeat in July was the primary reason that leaders of the ruling camp have pressured the unpopular Mori to move forward the LDP election and pave the way for a new leader.

To some LDP lawmakers, the image of Hashimoto as party chief and prime minister brings back bitter memory of the LDP's severe losses in the 1998 Upper House election, which forced him to resign as LDP chief and prime minister to take the blame for the embarrassing defeat.

It is not yet 100 percent certain that Hashimoto can obtain endorsement from other mainstream factions. LDP policy chief Shizuka Kamei, joint leader of the Eto-Kamei faction, said Wednesday he would not rule out the possibility of standing himself, suggesting that his group will hold a casting vote.

If Hashimoto does win support from the party's major factions, the party will still have to face the less predictable votes that will come from the LDP's local chapters.

On Wednesday, Mori and LDP Secretary General Makoto Koga agreed that three votes will be given to each of the party's 47 prefectural chapters, many of which plan to hold preliminary elections on their own to choose their candidate prior to the party vote, which will be held in Tokyo.

The LDP's leadership is expected to entrust each of its local bodies with the ability to decide how many of the three votes will be bound by the result of the preliminary voting in a prefecture.

A number of the LDP's local chapters are seen favoring Junichiro Koizumi, a former health minister who claims strong popular support as an advocate of reform. Whether Koizumi will toss his hat into the ring is another big question.

Hashimoto's faction has tried to prevent Koizumi, who heads the LDP's second-largest faction on behalf of its owner, Mori, from joining the race partly because Koizumi's public popularity and outspokenness could undermine the influence of the Hashimoto group and other so-called mainstream factions of the LDP, party sources say.

In fact, many veteran members of the Mori faction, including Mori himself, have indicated that Koizumi should not run in the party race. They apparently fear that competing against and losing out to a Hashimoto faction-backed candidate could throw the Mori faction out of the party's mainstream.

In a Wednesday night gathering, Koizumi, who had earlier indicated his readiness to stand, was noncommittal, saying he "has not yet made a decision" whether to run. He added that he "alone cannot decide" on the matter.