The Harsh Task of New President Fumio Kishida, “The 100th Prime Minister

At 1:05 p.m. on September 29, the LDP presidential election was held at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa’s main banquet hall, the International Pavilion Pamir “Kunlun.

There were 380 members of the House of Representatives. They sat at their assigned numbered seats, nervously awaiting the roll call, the vote, and “the moment.

As we all know, the result of the first round of voting was “Taro Kono 255 votes, Fumio Kishida 256 votes.

It was a decisive vote as expected, with Kono vs. Kishida, but there was a strange atmosphere in the hall. Most of the predictions that Kono would finish first were easily overturned.

“Kono was utterly trounced by Abe. Abe’s overwhelming political power was clearly demonstrated to the party and its members,” said a senior member of the Aso faction.

The top vote getter was Kishida, who received only one more vote than Kono.

The results of the runoff showed Fumio Kishida with 257 votes and Taro Kono with 170 votes. Abe’s unrelenting “strategy” had a greater effect than expected. Kishida won by an unexpectedly large margin.

As of 2:00 p.m. on the 29th, Kono had won 35 of the 47 prefectures, Kishida seven, and Takaichi and Noda one each. Kono won 39 prefectures in the runoff vote, while Kishida won only eight. Party members across the country had overwhelmingly chosen Kono.

A cruel scene on the stage

The newly elected president, Fumio Kishida, greeted the audience as follows.

“From the voices of the people, I sensed the crisis of democracy. I am starting my run today. One of Fumio Kishida’s specialties is to listen carefully to what people have to say. I hope that all of you will run with me.”

On the other hand, Toshihiro Nikai, the Secretary General of Japan, was on the stage. Toshihiro Nikai, the secretary general, stood in front of the microphone with a resentful expression on his face.

“According to the party rules, the term of office of the party officers will end with the election of the new president. At this time, the appointment of the new president will be at the discretion of the president.

He wanted to hold on to the post of secretary general, which had been the source of his power, but he was forced to declare his own “forced termination. The scene on the stage must have been burned into the eyes of the Diet members as a cruel scene of politics.

A former cabinet minister who was in the audience and witnessed the scene said with a sigh, “Former Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, former Prime Minister Koizumi, and former Prime Minister Ozawa were all in the audience.

“Former Prime Ministers Eisaku Sato, Junichiro Koizumi, and Taro Aso all won the presidency for the third time. Kono will be the third time. He has to start over so that he can win next time.

The Kishida administration is facing a number of major challenges: the extraordinary Diet session, the general election, next year’s upper house election, the warning against the sixth wave of coronas, and North Korea’s missiles. And since he received the Takaichi vote in the decisive election, it is inevitable that he will be called a ‘puppet of Abe’s politics.

With such a negative image of himself, he will have to deal with personnel changes, as well as more stringent checks on his ability to communicate, which the Kan administration failed to do. Now that he has become president, it’s a critical time for him.

One of the most famous LDP presidential elections of the Showa era, which is still talked about today, was held in 1972 between four candidates, Kakuei Tanaka, Takeo Fukuda, Masayoshi Ohira, and Takeo Miki, in the so-called “Triangle of Great Fortune. The winner, Kakuei Tanaka, said, “When people change, there is a certain amount of change.

“When a person changes, the political and social situation also changes somewhat.

The new president, Fumio Kishida, will be nominated as the 100th prime minister during the extraordinary Diet session on October 4. The lower house election will be held on November 7 or 14. It has not yet been decided. But anyway, the presidential election is over. The members of the House of Representatives, who were preparing for the election, quickly left the venue after the speech by the new president, Mr. Kishida, and started running for their respective constituencies. The “general election,” in which all citizens, not just party members, can vote, is just around the corner.