The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is considering launching on July 26 the administration committee for its presidential election, expected to take place in September, informed sources have said.
Ichiro Aisawa, a Lower House lawmaker, will head the 11-member committee, the sources said Friday. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s term as LDP president is set to expire at the end of September.
The board will fix election schedules by the end of August, according to party rules.
Some LDP members are calling for vote counting on Sept. 20 or Sept. 27, taking into account the Sept. 24 start of U.N. General Assembly speeches by world leaders including the Japanese prime minister.
Besides Kishida, former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba and digital transformation minister Taro Kono are willing to run in the party leadership election.
But calls on mid-ranking and younger members, such as former Environment Minister Shinjio Koizumi and former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, to join the race are growing as the LDP’s victory in the next Lower House election under the older-generation leadership is being questioned amid strong public criticism of the party’s long-maintained practice of creating slush funds.