Shigeru Ishiba, the former ruling Liberal Democratic Party secretary general, is not going to run in the party presidential election slated for late this month, according to his aides.
Ishiba is expected to inform the members of the faction he leads on Wednesday. It is thought that he is planning to back Taro Kono, the minister in charge of administrative and regulatory reform.
Kono, former LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Fumio Kishida and former Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Sanae Takaichi have declared their bids to run in the presidential election, with official campaigning scheduled to begin on Friday and voting and ballot counting scheduled for Sept. 29.
"I called for party reform in past presidential elections, but nothing has changed. I was too complacent," Ishiba said to his aides on Monday. "This time, I won't choose such a path," he said.
Kono asked Ishiba for his cooperation in the presidential race during a meeting at the Diet Building on Monday. Kono reportedly said: "After the party presidential race, elections for the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors are planned. If I win the presidential race, I will solidify party unity."
After the meeting with Kono, Ishiba told reporters: "I felt his strong desire to unite the party. It was a very meaningful time."
Ishiba has been thinking about not making another bid for the party leadership, but supporting Kono this time. After Kono's press conference last Friday to declare his candidacy and the pair's meeting on Monday, Ishiba finally decided not to run, according to his aides.
Ishiba has stood in four party-leadership elections, losing all of them. In last year's race, he received the lowest number of votes among the candidates.
There has been mounting caution in the Ishiba faction over a possible bid by the faction leader, as Kono's candidacy would erode Ishiba's advantage among rank-and-file party members.
The LDP's two largest factions -- the 96-member faction led by Hiroyuki Hosoda and the 53-member faction led by Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso -- are expected to let members vote for their preferred candidates in the first round.
The Hosoda faction is likely to vote for a unified candidate if there is a runoff. The Aso faction will support its member Kono as well as Kishida "in principle," and let each member decide which of the two to vote for.
The Aso faction is slated to hold a general meeting as early as Thursday and agree on "uniting under the new party president as a faction to support the administration" once the election is over.
-- Faction rift
The Aso faction has decided not to unify its support in the leadership race to avoid a possible rift among its members.
Many veteran lawmakers within the faction have distanced themselves from Kono and are recommending Kishida. Aso has been trying to find a way to avoid the worst scenario of Kono splitting the faction.
In a TBS program on Monday, Kono said of Aso's support: "I'm optimistic. He wished me luck so I think he will vote for me." His use of the word "optimistic" was perhaps a reflection of the complicated situation in the faction.
Initially, Aso took the position that Kono, as a Cabinet member, should not run if Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was standing for reelection, and Kono accepted his stance. However, the situation suddenly changed when the prime minister announced that he would not run.
On Sept. 3, when Kono informed Aso of his intention to stand in the election, Aso was cautious but gave his approval.
Aso's decision to give him the nod was based on advice from people around him who said he should avoid a situation in which Kono makes a bid even though Aso has asked him not to.
Some veteran and middle-ranking lawmakers in the Aso faction, including LDP Research Commission on the Tax System Chairperson Akira Amari, are wary about Kono, who has touted such policies as abandoning nuclear power.
With support for Kono growing among middle-ranking and junior faction members, Aso chided faction executives who were involved in preparations for his candidacy, telling them to think about their responsibility for unifying the faction.
Aso urged Kono to make efforts to lay the groundwork for his candidacy within the faction. At Aso's advice, Kono asked veteran faction members who were cautious about his candidacy to participate in his campaign.
Aso, who believed that such efforts helped improve the situation, told Kono on last Thursday, "If you run in the race, you have to win."
However, many lawmakers in the Aso faction share links with members of the Kishida faction, leading to the tough decision to back both Kono and Kishida.
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