The youngest son of Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Toshihiro Nikai is expected to run in the next Lower House election in Wakayama Prefecture, following a request by town and village leaders in the prefecture on Wednesday that he succeed his father.

Nobuyasu Nikai, 46, who serves as secretary to his 85-year-old father, has been asked to stand for election by the leaders of 21 Wakayama towns after his father announced last month he would not seek reelection.

“As the village and town leaders were unanimous in their request that I run, I have to truly take such a request seriously,” the younger Nikai said Wednesday.

Toshihiro Nikai, the oldest active member of parliament, said he decided not to seek reelection in order to take responsibility for the political funds scandal that has rocked his party and his own faction.

The Nikai faction's treasurer was indicted by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office, along with Nikai's other secretary, and the faction has been dissolved.

The younger Nikai's decision to run after his father stepped down had been widely anticipated. In recent years, the elder Nikai appeared to be grooming him as a successor, building his support among the town and village officials who backed him Wednesday.

Known as a pro-China politician, Toshihiro Nikai also dispatched his son to meet with local Chinese officials in Osaka. The lawmaker became head of the Japan-China Parliamentarians Friendship League in 2023.

His oldest son, 58-year-old Toshiki Nikai, had once been considered his father’s successor. But a loss in the 2016 mayoral race in Gobo, Wakayama Prefecture — his father's hometown — clouded his prospects.

Nobuyasu Nikai will attempt to take over from his father in an election that will be the first held under a plan that sees Wakayama’s electoral districts reduced from three to two.

Currently, Toshihiro Nikai is the Wakayama No. 3 representative, and the town and village association wants Nobuyasu Nikai to stand in the newly created No. 2 district.

The local show of support for the younger Nikai also raises questions for former LDP Upper House Secretary-General Hiroshige Seko, who has left the party over the scandal.

Seko, who currently represents Wakayama in the upper chamber, is believed to want to stand for the more powerful Lower House in the next election, though he would have to do so without official LDP backing.

While talk of a possible snap election this summer continues, the current four-year Lower House term does not expire until Oct. 30, 2025.