Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga will probably not become a candidate in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election in September because his own faction will not support him, political sources said Thursday.
With his faction not backing him and former LDP Vice President Taku Yamasaki giving up on running, the election is expected to be a three-way race involving Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, who is at present the only declared candidate.
But since the 74-member faction Nukaga belongs to is likely to support Abe, that will probably give the chief Cabinet secretary the majority of support in the LDP, the sources said.