Japan PM contender Kono to get most local party votes in leadership runoff - NHK

Taro Kono, Japan
Taro Kono, Japan's regulatory reform and vaccine minister, casts his ballot in a runoff vote in the Liberal Democrat Party leadership election in Tokyo, Japan September 29, 2021. Carl Court/Pool via REUTERS

TOKYO (Reuters) - Former defence minister Taro Kono will get 39 out of 47 votes allocated to local party chapters in the runoff in a ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership vote on Wednesday, according to projections by public broadcaster NHK.

His rival Fumio Kishida was projected to get the remaining 8 votes. A total of 429 votes are being cast in the run-off, of which 382 lawmakers and 47 local party chapters are allocated a ballot each.

(Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

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