<figure id="attachment_438633" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-438633" style="width: 1929px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="082f9af5"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/09/c54d706239b15126be9e7d9dc04e851f.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-438633" class="wp-caption-text">The four fought in last year&#8217;s presidential election as well. This time, the race will likely revolve around Sanae Takaichi (far left) and Shinjiro Koizumi (far right), but how will Takayuki Kobayashi (second from left) and Yoshimasa Hayashi fare? &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
<h2> The &#8220;openness of names&#8221; has united the anti-Ishiba forces.</h2>
 One inch ahead is darkness. &#8230;&#8230; Nagata-cho is shaken up.
 On September 7, Shigeru Ishiba, 68, president of the Liberal Democratic Party, announced his resignation.
 At a press conference, Ishiba said.
 I have made the decision to give way to my successor. Until a new president is elected, I will steadily fulfill my responsibilities to the people of Japan and leave the future to the new president and prime minister.
 He commented.
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 Although he ostensibly said that his decision was based on the fact that the Japan-U.S. tariff negotiations had reached a certain point of closure, in reality he was giving in to the &#8220;downing of Ishiba&#8221; within his own party. With a snap presidential election now certain to take place, the only two options left were dissolution or resignation.
 The extraordinary presidential election requires a majority of 342 votes from 295 Diet members and 47 prefectural federations in the House of Representatives, and the names of all members must be made public. This was a kind of &#8220;stepping stone,&#8221; so to speak, but it had the opposite effect. It strengthened the anti-Ishiba coalition, and when Ishiba&#8217;s natural enemy, Supreme Advisor Taro Aso (84), expressed his support for the election, it was as if an avalanche of support for the extraordinary presidential election was swept away.
 A source close to the political world said, &#8220;On the 6th, the day before he resigned, Koizumi was elected president.
 On the 6th, the day before he resigned, Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi (44) and former Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide (76) met with him. According to a reporter in charge of politics for a national newspaper
 If there is an extraordinary presidential election, it is tantamount to a recall,&#8221; said a reporter covering politics for a national newspaper. Prime Minister Ishiba was ready to dissolve the Diet and was opposed to the idea. The media even reported that the election would be held on a schedule of &#8216;announce on the 16th and vote on the 30th. Kan, feeling a sense of crisis, took Shinjiro along with him and advised him to avoid the dissolution of the Diet and to step down on his own.
 Thus, the Ishiba administration came to an end in less than a year.
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 Nagatacho was already in full swing for the presidential election. The media is reporting a &#8220;Shinjiro vs. Sanae Takaichi, 64,&#8221; as is the prevailing view.
 There had been reports that Mr. Takaichi would have a hard time gathering nominees, but it appears that he has found a clear path. Moreover, it has been decided that the presidential election will be held in a &#8220;full spec&#8221; format rather than a &#8220;simplified&#8221; format.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Impact of the LDP Presidential Election on Opposition Parties"></div>
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<figure id="attachment_438592" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-438592" style="width: 3468px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a7b3bcd4"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/09/d0b956223bf0d5038fabc84b5607e5f0.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-438592" class="wp-caption-text">Sanae Takaichi (left), who is said to be one of the candidates for prime minister, and Yoshihiko Noda, the leader of the first opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).</figcaption></figure>
 The biggest difference between the former and the latter is that in addition to the 295 votes for Diet members, 295 votes for party members are also counted. Many say that this gives Mr. Takaichi, who has more party members&#8217; votes, an &#8220;advantage.&#8221; &#8230;&#8230;
 The situation is completely different from the past. The LDP is now the minority ruling party in the lower house. In order to run a government, we have to work with other parties on an equal basis. Many within the party have pointed out the dangers of Mr. Takaichi&#8217;s right-leaning ideology, and some in the Komeito party, with which he forms a coalition, have also rejected him. Some people in Nagata-cho believe that if he can win over the Komeito and the Japan Conservative Party, he will be seen as a far-right administration and will have a tough time in the next election.
 On the diplomatic front, Mr. Takaichi was notified by Russia in ‛22 that he would be banned from entering Japan indefinitely. Mr. Takaichi took to social networking sites at the time and wrote
 I&#8217;m not going even if I&#8217;m invited! I won&#8217;t go even if I&#8217;m invited!
 But he could only say this because he is a member of the Diet, not because he is the prime minister. The secretary of a certain Liberal Democratic Party member of the Diet said, &#8220;Kishida is not a target of the Russian embargo.
 The Russian ban includes former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (68) and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (64), so from Russia&#8217;s point of view, this may be an appeal to the outside world, but Mr. Takaichi was the only influential member who reacted emotionally. The phrase &#8220;It&#8217;s fine, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221; was also used against President Trump, who announced that he would impose high tariffs. This kind of language is dangerous, isn&#8217;t it?
 He said, &#8220;I think this kind of language is dangerous.
<h2> Ichiro Ozawa&#8217;s &#8220;agenda&#8221; behind the &#8220;Noda ouster&#8221; campaign</h2>
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 However, according to the aforementioned secretary
 &#8220;People are focusing on the LDP presidential election, but in fact, the opposition parties are in trouble as well,&#8221; he said.
 He adds, &#8220;If Shinjiro were to become prime minister, the opposition would be in trouble, too.
 If Shinjiro were to become prime minister, The Japan Innovation Party would emerge as a coalition partner, but there is a sense of disquiet within the party: on September 8, Hiroki Abe (63), Takeshi Saiki (51), and Tadashi Morishima (44) filed a notice of resignation from the party.
 Co-chairman Seiji Maehara (63) left his post to take responsibility for the Upper House election, and was replaced by former representative Baba Nobuyuki (60), whose group was reinstated. Morishima, who left the party, said, &#8220;I thought the Ishin-no-kai was a reform party that did not lean on ideology, but its direction has changed. There is also discord between the Tokyo Restoration Association and the Osaka Restoration Association, and the possibility of a split cannot be ruled out.
 When we asked political commentator Harumi Arima about the departure of the party members from the Restoration Association, he replied, &#8220;The party is not monolithic, and the possibility of a split cannot be ruled out,
 Fumitake Fujita, 44, who replaced Maehara as the new co-chairman, is very close to former Representative Baba. The reason why the three members left the party may be due to the constituency issue in the event that the Ishin forms a coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In fact, it was reported that former Representative Baba had dinner with Yoshimasa Hayashi on the evening of January 9. I suspect that there are still some Restoration members who are worried about various issues.
 He analyzes, &#8220;I think there are still some Restoration members who are troubled about various issues.
 It is not only the Restoration Association. The largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), has also begun to smolder with the &#8220;Noda ouster&#8221; movement. With the LDP facing headwinds in the Upper House election, many observers believe that the DPJ has &#8220;effectively lost the election&#8221; because it failed to increase its number of seats.
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 Prime Minister Ishiba and Representative Yoshihiko Noda (68) had a constructive relationship. However, this was not a &#8220;selling point,&#8221; and it was buried during the recent Upper House election. With the timing of Prime Minister Ishiba&#8217;s decision to step down, there are now calls for Noda to step down as well.
 Ichiro Ozawa, 83, a leading figure in the party, referred to Prime Minister Ishiba&#8217;s resignation in X
 I believe that we must make a complete renewal of the party&#8217;s style so that it will be supported by the people as a party that can replace the Liberal Democratic Party in power,&#8221; he posted.
 The post reads, &#8220;The face of the party. The post also intensified pressure to replace the &#8220;face&#8221; of the party with a new one.
 Political commentator Arima, mentioned above, commented, &#8220;The party is under pressure to replace Mr. Noda as its representative,
 Mr. Arima, the political commentator mentioned above, said, &#8220;It was Mr. Ozawa who moved to make Mr. Noda the representative. The idea was to form an opposition government, but the key person, Mr. Noda, would not move to that end. So, they decided to install a new party leader who would aim for an opposition government. Not only the Rikken and Restoration parties, but also the opposition parties are now coming to the surface as they are moving to the right and left after Prime Minister Ishiba announced his resignation,&#8221; he said.
 He said, &#8220;The opposition parties are also moving to the right and left.
 With the resignation of Prime Minister Ishiba, a battle for the &#8220;leader of the mountain&#8221; has begun within the opposition parties. It is possible that the political world is about to enter a period of further chaos.

 Representative photo/Reuters/Afro (first photo), Takeshi Kinugawa (second photo, Takaichi)

 The LDP presidential election was kicked off by Prime Minister Ishiba's announcement of his resignation. The LDP's power struggle has also affected the opposition parties. Among them, the mess between Ishin, the said coalition candidate, and Rikken, the first opposition party, is being ......

The &#8220;Ishin&#8221; (Restoration) and the &#8220;Rikken&#8221; (Constitution) are on the verge of splitting&#8230;The opposition parties&#8217; battle for the &#8220;leader of the mountain&#8221; is stirring in the LDP presidential election.

The “Ishin” (Restoration) and the “Rikken” (Constitution) are on the verge of splitting…The opposition parties’ battle for the “leader of the mountain” is stirring in the LDP presidential election.

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