TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio is carefully considering a schedule for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election to be held in line with the expiration of his current term at the end of September, while apparently hoping that the party’s current internal situation will calm down.

Once a specific schedule emerges, his possible challengers, including former LDP Secretary-General ISHIBA Shigeru and digital transformation minister KONO Taro, are certain to step up their activities.

The LDP is expected to launch a committee on Friday to manage the upcoming leadership election. Under its internal rules, the party will decide and announce the dates when the official campaign period for the election will begin and when voting will be held at least one month before the incumbent’s term ends.

There are proposals to start the campaign period on Sept. 6 or 13 and set the voting day for Sept. 20 or 27, respectively, as the prime minister is expected to deliver a speech at a U.N. General Assembly session from Sept. 24.

When setting a leadership election schedule, an incumbent’s wishes are usually prioritized if the incumbent plans to run for re-election. An incumbent with a strong political base might set the election schedule early to build momentum for re-election.

However, the current leader is struggling with low public approval ratings, due in part to the party’s “slush fund” scandal. “If the prime minister’s preferred schedule is revealed, it could provoke resistance (within the party),” a party source said.

A schedule for the upcoming leadership election is widely expected not to be finalized until late August.

Ahead of the leadership race, Kishida is closely watching moves by non-mainstream LDP members critical of him, including former Prime Minister SUGA Yoshihide, who last month effectively called on Kishida to step down, saying that he has not taken responsibility for the slush fund scandal.

Still such calls do not necessarily resonate within the LDP. “Non-mainstream members are fretting over the current situation, and we have no need to move now,” said a party veteran close to the prime minister.

Some party members are supporting the ailing prime minister, including House of Representatives lawmaker Hajime Funada, who said on his website on July 1, “Criticism that (Kishida) has not taken responsibility is not correct.” A group of female lawmakers met with Kishida last week and praised him for making “almost no policy mistakes.”

“The mood will change if more people think that the prime minister is doing better than expected,” a former cabinet minister said.

JIJI Press