The news is all about the LDP presidential election. It&#8217;s interesting to watch the &#8220;news&#8221; coverage, which is a jumble of speculation by the various factions within the party that are working behind the scenes.
<figure id="attachment_204459" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1872px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-204459"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ed9a88c6"><img src="https://gsjebzejhjubm-res.cloudinary.com/image/private/s--WC7Xj_l3--/t_article_image/v1631279725/%E3%82%B9%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%83%E3%83%88_2021-09-10_22.14.54_du6dqw.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-204459" class="wp-caption-text">The LDP headquarters in Nagata-cho, Tokyo. Security at the LDP headquarters in Nagata-cho, Tokyo, has become even tighter ahead of the presidential election. The major media press clubs are the only ones who allow free access&#8230; What the reporters are not reporting is the true state of the political situation.</figcaption></figure>
According to a poll conducted by Kyodo News, Taro Kono is the top choice for the next president with 31.9% of the vote. On the other hand, according to a survey of LDP members and party friends, which was previously reported in this magazine and has attracted the attention of political insiders, Shigeru Ishiba came in first with 29%. (This is the <a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/203316">hottest presidential election in history. Behind the scenes of the fierce battle between Ishiba, Kono, and Kishida )</a>
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The popularity of Kono and Ishiba has only one thing in common. This is the &#8220;distance&#8221; between them and Abe, Aso, and Nikai. It is this sense of distance that has led to the reputation of Ishiba and Kono as aspiring politicians who are not beholden to power. However, or perhaps because of this, the voices within the LDP are more subtle.
<h2>Kono and Ishiba. A walk through the &#8220;true feelings&#8221; of LDP members</h2>
 &#8220;Taro Kono is just playing cat and mouse with power in front of his eyes. If he becomes president, he will be out of control. He will make it clear that he wants to eliminate nuclear power and accept female emperors. He will ignore the party&#8217;s policy. Like Trump, he will explode the &#8220;Kono Twitter from the Prime Minister&#8217;s Office. Kono is, in a sense, Japan&#8217;s Trump, little Junichiro Koizumi.
 &#8220;Kono joined the Abe administration for the first time. &#8220;Kono joined the Abe administration for the first time. At that time, he rejected the &#8220;Kono Statement&#8221; on the issue of comfort women, which was issued by his father, Yohei Kono, former LDP president, when he was chief cabinet secretary. In other words, it was a treadmill. At the same time, he closed down his blog on nuclear power free from nuclear power to accommodate the power. How can you be so trustworthy? There&#8217;s no way we can trust him.
On the other hand, Ishiba, who is the most popular politician in Japan, has been harshly criticized within the party.
 Ishiba is the most popular person in the country, but the voices within the party are harsh: &#8220;It&#8217;s hard to listen to Shigeru Ishiba&#8217;s righteous arguments because he doesn&#8217;t allow his opponents to create a way out. In addition, his roundabout tone of voice is annoying. He never says the wrong thing, but his criticism of Abe and Aso in that tone made people hate him. He has a scary face, and I don&#8217;t understand why public opinion always picks him as the top politician who is suitable to be the next prime minister,&#8221; said a member of the Aso faction.
 &#8220;If you work together with the opposition parties to criticize the system, like Ishiba does, you will be popular. He looks too good to the outside world and has few friends in the LDP. The fact that the faction has not grown is a true testament to the relationship between Ishiba and the party.
This is the reputation and reality within the party of the &#8220;two top LDP leaders&#8221; who are most supported by public opinion.
There is a clear divide between the supporters of Kono, who is mainly supported by the younger generation, and Ishiba, who is popular among the older generation. Conversely, these two men cover all generations. If this is the case, then if these two leaders challenge the forthcoming general election for the House of Representatives, they will be able to make up for the unpopularity of the Liberal Democratic Party by covering all generations. However, this is not so easy for the LDP. Most people think that neither of them will be elected president.
<h2>Why Takaichi?</h2>
So, why does Sanae Takaichi, who is backed by the Hosoda faction, the largest faction of the LDP, and former Prime Minister Abe, have the upper hand?
 &#8220;Takaichi was the opponent of Seiko Noda when she ran for the presidency. In addition to that, she is the party&#8217;s message to the Japan Council, Abe&#8217;s support group. Whatever it is, it&#8217;s just a tool,&#8221; said a middle-ranking Diet member.
The logic seems to be that if the &#8220;first woman&#8221; is the liberal-leaning Seiko Noda, the core supporters of the LDP will leave the party. It is pathetic.
<h2>After all, the &#8220;squishy&#8221; Kishida puts Abe&#8217;s interests first.</h2>
Then there is Fumio Kishida. As a leading LDP delegate explained.
 &#8220;When Kishida was foreign minister, Abe dangled the carrot of handing over power to him, and he became very conscious of the need to take the prime minister&#8217;s seat. At that time, Aso, who was annoyed with Makoto Koga, the former secretary general of the Kishida faction, who held hidden power as the honorary chairman of the Kishida faction, flirted with the idea of handing over power on the condition that Koga be cut off. At the end of last year, Kishida finally got rid of Koga and went into this presidential election.
Abe and Aso, both staunch conservatives, were wary that the Kishida faction, controlled by Koga, would become a force hostile to Abe and his party. So they uprooted and eliminated them. Kishida, who had betrayed and driven away the elder statesmen of the traditional faction of the Koike Kai, was supposed to be in line for the prime ministership&#8230;
A number of allegations against the former Abe administration have been left unanswered, including the Morikake, Sakura, and the political funds for the Kawai couple. In particular, Kishida said on a BS program that &#8221; further explanations must be given&#8221; regarding the Morikake issue. Kishida&#8217;s remarks on the Morikake issue in a BS program, in which he said, &#8220;We need further explanations,&#8221; caught Abe&#8217;s attention, and Abe and Hosoda&#8217;s faction shifted their support to Takaichi&#8217;s full support.
 &#8220;Kishida apologized to Abe&#8221; (source)
Soon after, Kishida changed his statement, saying that he was not thinking of conducting another investigation, and was now criticized by the public for &#8220;licking Abe&#8217;s boots. The ripples will only grow.
 &#8220;In the election for the presidency, the secret is that none of the candidates will win a majority. The fact that no one candidate will win a majority of votes in the election is a key factor. The results will probably be completely different from the first round of voting.
A senior LDP official said with a chuckle. A senior LDP official said with a chuckle, &#8220;But that&#8217;s the thing.
How would public opinion react if Kono or Ishiba were to snatch away the majority of the 383 party member votes, and by any chance get close to a majority?
<h2>How would public opinion react if Kono or Ishiba were to win a near-majority of the vote?</h2>
 &#8220;The voice of party members and friends is close to the voice of the people, so it should be reflected in the election. &#8230; &#8220;&#8230;
If Ishiba, who is holding off, decides not to run, the party members&#8217; votes are expected to be concentrated on Kono. If Ishiba decides not to run, the party members&#8217; votes are expected to be concentrated on Kono. If the party members&#8217; votes are overturned in the subsequent runoff election and the votes are concentrated on another candidate, the LDP will be accused of saying that the LDP presidential election was not a fair election, but a mere ceremony in which a large faction used the dynamics of numbers. The public will surely be skeptical. Needless to say, the same eyes will be on the &#8220;Party Style Renewal Association (tentative name),&#8221; which will be launched by young and middle-ranking members.
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 &#8220;Many of the younger lawmakers are in a quandary,&#8221; said a veteran lawmaker.
 &#8220;They say that the factions should unite to win over the mainstream factions and capture the four party posts. But we want to elect a president who can win the election. First of all, we need the badge of a member of the Diet,&#8221; said a young LDP member.
The general public does not have the right to vote in the LDP presidential election, but the LDP president will be the prime minister. This is a presidential election where the entire LDP&#8217;s behavior should be closely watched. This is an election that will determine the leader of this country.

 Taira Nagata

 The news is full of LDP presidential elections. It is interesting to see the "news" that is filled with the speculations of the various factions within the party that are working behind the scenes. According to a public opinion poll, Taro Kono topped the list of expectations for the next LDP president at 31.9% (Kyodo News). On the other hand, as this magazine has already reported, people in the political arena are watching closely.

Four candidates for the presidency not reported by the major media: “True reputation within the LDP”.

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