The four candidates in the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential race -- Taro Kono, Fumio Kishida, Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda -- exchanged views on several aspects of how to run the ruling party in Monday's open debate organized by the LDP's Youth and Women's Affairs divisions in Tokyo.
Regarding the system for choosing the next LDP president and party leadership elections in the future, Kono, 58, said, "I will make sure that every vote of rank-and-file party members is counted." Kono, the administrative and regulatory reform minister, expressed his intention to change the current system in which the votes of Diet members are given more weight in a runoff election.
The upcoming presidential election will involve a total of 764 votes -- 382 cast by LDP lawmakers and an equal number of ballots based on votes cast by rank-and-file party members and members of affiliated groups across the country. If a runoff takes place, it will involve a total of 429 votes -- 382 from LDP lawmakers and one from each of the 47 prefectural chapters.
Kishida, 64, a former LDP policy research council chairperson, called for the introduction of online voting in the presidential election.
Under the current system, each hopeful must secure nominations from 20 LDP Diet members to qualify for the race. Noda, 61, the LDP executive acting secretary general, said: "If possible, I would reduce the number to zero. If that's too difficult, 10 would do."
The four also debated the party's mandatory retirement age of 73, which currently applies to candidates running for the proportional representation bloc in the House of Representatives election.
Kono, Kishida and Noda declared that they would firmly maintain the system, while Takaichi, 60, former internal affairs and communications minister, implied she would review it.
"Members across a wide range of ages have active roles in the LDP, and that's the strength of the party. In order to create a sense of reassurance felt by all generations, I want to be careful about deciding which age the retirement age should be," she said.
Kono said he would consider giving priority to including candidates with disabilities or intractable diseases in the party's proportional representation list in lower house elections.
Noda advocated the active inclusion of women on the party's proportional representation list, aiming to increase the ratio of female LDP lawmakers to 50%. Kishida and Takaichi also expressed a positive stance toward the inclusion of diverse human resources on the list.
As for the appointment of junior and mid-ranking lawmakers to party posts, Kishida stressed the party must be "fair and open." He said that senior posts of the LDP's headquarters and prefectural federations as well as its election strategy task force should include directors of the party's Youth and Women's Affairs divisions.
Takaichi said, "I want to create an environment and make personnel appointments so that low-profile members who are improving their expertise can come to the fore."
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
