Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Yokosuka, near Tokyo, March 22, 2020. -

Pool for Yomiuri / AP / SIPA

Replacing Shinzo Abe, who resigned for health reasons, the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) is due to vote on September 14 to elect the new Japanese prime minister, local media reported on Tuesday.

The vote will determine the new prime minister.

A vote in Parliament will take place a few days later, but it should only be a formality given that the PLD and its ally, the Komeito party, control both houses of the Diet.

Expedited vote due to Shinzo Abe's state of health

An official announcement from the PLD on the date of the vote was expected later on Tuesday or Wednesday.

In the meantime, the party has already decided on the format that its internal election will take: a reduced and accelerated procedure which will only involve parliamentarians and regional PLD delegates, or only 535 voters in total.

Normally, such an internal election involves all party members across the country.

Organizing an election on this scale “would take two months.

Given the health of the Prime Minister, two months is a very long time.

We cannot take so long ”, explained Tuesday at a press conference the chairman of the general council of the PLD Shunichi Suzuki.

Nominations will be scheduled for September 8, according to local media.

Three potential candidates

The current secretary general and spokesman of the Abe government, Yoshihide Suga, 71, is given the favorite of the PLD election.

Also according to the Japanese media, this loyal Shinzo Abe has obtained the support of large factions within the PLD, without being himself at the head of one of them.

Another suitor, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, 63, is popular with the PLD's grassroots but much less among the party's elected officials, who are wary of its tendency to go it alone.

Some still resent him for leaving the PLD in 1993, before returning in 1997.

A third likely candidate is Fumio Kishida, 63, former Minister of Foreign Affairs (2012-2017) and current head of the political strategy of the PLD.

He has often been considered Shinzo Abe's favorite to succeed him but he seems disadvantaged by his rather self-effacing personality.

Shinzo Abe said he did not intend to meddle in the election or give instructions to vote.

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