Japan's COVID minister Kono popular with voters for PM, may get heavyweight backing - media (updated)
06/09/2021 06:09
(Recasts lead, adds details)
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Taro Kono, Japan's minister in
charge of fighting COVID-19 and a top choice of voters for
Japanese prime minister, may also pick up the backing of a
popular ruling party heavyweight in the race for party leader,
broadcaster TV Asahi said on Monday.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's shock Friday announcement he
was stepping down has thrown a ruling Liberal Democratic Party
(LDP) leadership race set for Sept. 29 wide open, with an array
of candidates - including two women - considering runs.
The LDP's majority in parliament guarantees the winner will
become prime minister.
Former foreign minister Fumio Kishida, 64, is the only
candidate to throw his hat into the ring so far.
Kono has yet to formally declare his candidacy but media
reports say his intention to run is strengthening.
Former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is popular among
LDP grassroots members, is considering backing Kono instead of
running himself, TV Asahi reported, without citing sources or
further details - a move that could significantly increase
Kono's chances of winning.
Kono sidestepped the issue at a Monday news conference on
Japan's vaccination drive, saying only that in the case he did
run he would make sure it had no impact on his current duties,
including a vaccine rollout in a nation where not quite half
have been fully inoculated.
Ishiba, 64, had such strong support among rank-and-file
party members in the past that he defeated Suga's predecessor
Shinzo Abe in the first round of a 2012 leadership race. He lost
in a later round, when only lawmakers could vote, and has since
lost two more leadership contests.
Two public opinion polls over the past few days have said
Kono is the top choice of voters to assume the premiership, with
23% telling the Yomiuri Shimbun daily in a poll published Monday
that they favoured him.
But he was just a hair ahead of Ishiba at 21%.
A former foreign and defence minister, the 58-year-old Kono,
educated at Georgetown University and a fluent English speaker,
has built a popular following among young voters with an active
social media presence in two languages and 2.3 million followers
on his Japanese page alone.
Kono has long been a favoured candidate among voters for
prime minister and has made no secret of wanting the job, but
party elders are wary of him for his outspokenness and
reputation as a maverick.
Others feel he is still too young for the job, though media
reported at the weekend he had secured Suga's backing.
Kishida was seen as the likely heir when Abe quit last year
due to illness, his low-key, soft-spoken style typically lands
him low in voter surveys - such as the Yomiuri's, in which he
trailed at only 12%.
Unlike last year's leadership race, when Suga emerged the
winner, this time ordinary party members at the prefectural
level will also be able to vote, making the outcome harder to
predict.
Potential candidates spent a busy weekend meeting with other
lawmakers, sounding them out for support, media said. Each needs
to gather 20 supporters by Sept 17 to become a formal candidate,
with the vote on Sept 29.
Should the results be close, a second round would be held
with only lawmakers allowed to vote.
Abe's actions are being closely watched since he, as Japan's
longest-serving prime minister, still retains influence in the
party's two largest factions and among conservative lawmakers.
Japanese media has reported that Abe will be backing former
internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi, who hopes to become
Japan's first woman prime minister.
But Monday's Yomiuri survey had Takaichi trailing badly at
3% - just behind Abe himself, at 5%.
(Additional reporting by Antoni Slodkowski and Ju-min Park;
Editing by Michael Perry)
((elaine.lies@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-4563-2748; Reuters
Messaging: elaine.lies@thomsonreuters.com))