YAZU: ISHIBA Shigeru, former secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, announced his bid for LDP presidency in his hometown of Yazu in the western Japan prefecture of Tottori on Saturday.

The Sept. 27 LDP presidential election will be the fifth attempt at the party’s top post for Ishiba, 67, who positioned the race as the culmination of his political life and his last battle.

In connection with the LDP’s high-profile slush funds scandal, Ishiba stressed the importance of seeking the people’s judgment promptly and expressed readiness to dissolve the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of Japan’s parliament, for a snap election at an early date if elected as prime minister.

Ishiba said the LDP Election Strategy Committee should thoroughly deliberate on whether lawmakers linked to the scandal deserve to be the party’s official candidates in the upcoming election. “I’ll make maximum efforts to enhance transparency (of political funds),” he added.

“Politics will change. The LDP will change,” Ishiba said. “I’m the one who can make it happen.”

For the LDP presidential election to find a successor to Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio, who has said he will not seek re-election as party chief, Ishiba became the second party member to announce candidacy, after former Japanese economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, 49, who declared his bid on Monday.

LDP Secretary-General MOTEGI Toshimitsu, 68, has also decided to run for LDP leader in his first attempt to do so, informed sources said Saturday. Motegi, commended for his practical skills, has served as industry minister and foreign minister.

Among others whose names are being floated as possible runners, digital transformation minister KONO Taro, 61, will hold a press conference on Monday to announce his candidacy and former Environment Minister KOIZUMI Shinjiro, 43, plans declare his bid on Friday.

JIJI Press