The four candidates running to become head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party — and effectively prime minister — made their last-minute appeals for support on Tuesday, a day before what looks set to be a tightly contested LDP presidential election.
The LDP leadership election will likely end up in a runoff between vaccination minister Taro Kono and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida as the first round of voting is not expected to deliver a decisive winner with majority support, according to a Kyodo News survey.
The next leader will replace outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who serves as president of a ruling party that has been struggling to shore up an economy battered by measures implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19.