Japan's ruling party election to pick the successor to outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga headed into a runoff Wednesday between the top contenders, vaccination minister Taro Kono and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, after no candidate secured an outright majority in the first round.
Kishida won 256 of 764 LDP first-round votes, while Kono took home 255. Former internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi, meanwhile, won 188 votes, and LDP Executive Acting Secretary-General Seiko Noda won 63.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, his support in tatters ahead of the election, in a surprise move said he would step down after only a year as the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader at a scheduled Sept. 29 party vote.