In a change of fortunes, former party policy chief Fumio Kishida of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has taken a lead over favourite Administrative Reform Minister Taro Kono according to a Nikkei/TV Tokyo survey.
Nikkei Asia says that over 120 ruling LDP lawmakers plan to support Kishida in the LDP presidential election. This makes for a 30 per cent parliamentary support for Kishida while Kono gets the backing of over 100 parliamentarians which translates to over 20 per cent support.Former internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi appears likely to garner around 20 per cent while former internal affairs minister Seiko Noda, trails at number four with just 20 endorsements.
The LDP's presidential election is slated for Wednesday which will also mean that the winner takes over as the Japanese prime minister. The victor will be elected prime minister in a special parliamentary session next week.
According to Nikkei Asia, a total of 382 votes were cast by LDP lawmakers while the rank-and-file members outside the parliament account for another 382 votes.
All this while, Kono has been projected as being in the lead though no candidate is on track to capture the majority outright. The top two candidates will have a face-off in a second round of voting.
The survey, conducted on Monday, focused on LDP lawmakers who had not responded to a Nikkei/TV Tokyo survey conducted last week. Kishida has the support of the 46 members in his own faction and appears to be gaining ground in the Hosoda, Aso and Takeshita factions as well.
However, once again around 50, or over 10 per cent, of LDP lawmakers remained undecided or did not respond to the survey.
"We want to act together as a faction as much as possible" in a runoff, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, the faction's acting leader, said at a Monday meeting.
Meanwhile, the Japanese public appears to favor Kono with a majority of LDP supporters saying they saw Kono as the best choice to lead the party.
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