Ldp Presidential Candidates On Last Campaign Day
Japan's main governing Liberal Democratic Party will vote on Monday for its new leader, who is expected to replace outgoing Prime Minister Abe Shinzo at the helm of the government. Candidates are seeking as much additional support as possible on Sunday, the last day of campaigning.
The election will be contested by former LDP Secretary-General Ishiba Shigeru, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide and LDP policy chief Kishida Fumio.
Of the 535 total votes, 394 will be from party lawmakers. The remainder will come from the party's 47 prefectural chapters, which will have three votes each.
On Saturday, the three candidates took part in a public debate held in Tokyo.
The debate centered on political systems that the candidates hope to establish for the country as well as measures to deal with new coronavirus infections.
During another debate held online on Saturday evening, Ishiba said the pandemic has revealed the limit of Japan's unipolar administrative system centering on Tokyo. He said political devolution and the transfer of more of the budget to local governments should be considered.
Suga said optical fiber networks have not yet covered all of the country although digital communications via such networks could narrow the gap between major cities and other parts of the country.
Kishida said people should be aware that they cannot recover the lifestyles they had before the pandemic. He added that a shift of the workforce is expected from industries incapable of adopting information technology to those that can do so.
They plan to take part in an NHK TV debate and other programs and appeal by phone to lawmakers who are yet to reveal their choices.
