石破・岸田氏、地方141票 2位を左右　自民党総裁選

LDP presidential election situation Local vote, Mr. Suga is in majority votes

The LDP presidential election was dominated by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who was supported by five of the seven factions within the party. Shigeru Ishiba, the former secretary general, and Fumio Kishida, the chairman of the politics, compete for second place with 141 local votes. In the past, the ups and downs of the ranking have influenced the run for the next presidential election.

Mr. Ishiba visited Fujimino City, Saitama Prefecture on the 9th to inspect the damage caused by the typhoon last year. He appealed to establish a Ministry of Disaster Prevention to aim for the same level of disaster prevention measures nationwide. After returning to Tokyo and attending a debate organized by the Party Youth Bureau and Women's Bureau, I visited Chiba Prefecture.

Mr. Kishida attended a meeting in Miho Village, Ibaraki Prefecture, in which prefectural assembly members and general party members participated. "We want to implement the latest technology such as the next-generation communication standard 5G in the rural areas first and achieve unique development," he emphasized the attitude of emphasizing the rural areas.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga, who is in charge of crisis management, has difficulty going to rural areas and travels to the parliamentary offices in the Diet during public affairs.

The House of Councilors' House was the first to go on the morning of the 9th, one night after the announcement of the presidential election. There are many members of the Upper House who are closely related to occupational groups, which leads to the party membership vote held by industry groups.

The presidential election will contend for a total of 535 votes, including the Diet member's vote of 394 and the local vote of 141 assigned to each prefecture. Many local organizations decide the distribution of 3 votes according to the votes obtained in the primary.

There are 264 members of the five factions who support Mr. Suga. There are 47 Kishida and 19 Ishiba. Mr. Suga has the upper hand, even if not everyone votes according to the faction's policy. Ishiba and Kishida are aiming to gain more votes with a more fluid local vote than the parliamentary vote.

Mr. Ishiba received 45% of the local vote in the 2018 presidential election in which he fought with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. It seems possible to reverse Mr. Kishida, who has more than 30 people on the scale of his own faction. 

The term of office of the new president, which will be decided by this presidential election, is until the end of September 2009 in order to take over the rest of Prime Minister Abe. One year later, the presidential election will be held again.

Mr. Suga's camp aims for top votes in both the parliamentary vote and the local vote. After showing a strong support, the government will operate the government in a stable manner and aim for a situation where it is difficult for other candidates to run in the next presidential election.

Source: https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO63651180Z00C20A9PP8000/