43 LDP Prefectural Chapters to Hold Primaries

Tokyo, Sept. 5 (Jiji Press)--A total of 43 prefectural chapters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will hold primary elections for the party’s leadership race, Jiji Press learned Saturday.

The prefectural chapters will hold a poll of rank-and-file members to determine who the chapters should vote for in the LDP presidential election, set for Sept. 14. Prefectural chapters are allotted three votes each.

Of the 43 prefectural chapters, 32 will adopt the D’Hondt method for converting the party members’ support into votes in the leadership election. Under the method, the first-place candidate must receive over triple the support of the runner-up in order to obtain all three votes.

The method will be adopted by the chapters of Hiroshima and Tottori prefectures, which include the constituencies of LDP policy chief Fumio Kishida and former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba, respectively. Kishida and Ishiba, both 63, are candidates in the likely three-way leadership race.

Meanwhile, the chapters of Tokyo and five prefectures--Saitama, Kanagawa, Chiba, Wakayama and Okinawa--will use the winner-takes-all method. Kanagawa includes the constituency of Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, seen as the strongest candidate, while Wakayama is home to LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai, who backs Suga, 71.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]