2018 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) presidential election

A presidential election was held on 20 September 2018 to elect the next president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan for a new 3-year term. Incumbent president Shinzo Abe was running for re-election after a rule change in 2017 that allowed him to run for a third term.^[1]

2018 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election

← 2015 20 September 2018 2020 →

Candidate Shinzo Abe Shigeru Ishiba Leader's seat Yamaguchi 4th Tottori 1st LDP MPs 329 (81.84%) 73 (18.16%) Members 224 (55.31%) 181 (44.69%) Total votes 553 (68.53%) 254 (31.47%)

Election results

President before election Shinzo Abe Elected President Shinzo Abe

Abe's subsequent victory^[2] led to him staying as prime minister for just under two years. In this time, on 22 November 2019, he broke the record for the nation's longest-serving prime ministership previously held by Taro Katsura, who had served three times between 1901 and 1913. He also served the longest uninterrupted term by 24 August 2020, ahead of Eisaku Satō's 2,797 days, before resigning four days later.

Background

Scandals

In March 2018, it was revealed that the Finance Ministry (with finance minister Tarō Asō at its head) had falsified documents presented to the parliament in relation to the Moritomo Gakuen scandal, to remove 14 passages implicating Abe.^[3] It has been suggested that the scandal could cost Abe his seat as the Liberal Democratic Party's leader.^[3] A Kyodo poll showed the Japanese government popularity's has fallen as low as 30% from 44% in February.^[4]

Candidates

Nominated

Candidate(s)		Date of birth	Notable positions	Party faction(s)	District(s)	Announced	Reference(s)
Shinzo Abe		(1954-09-21)21 September 1954 (age 63)	President of the LDP (2006-2007, since 2012) Prime Minister (2006–2007, since 2012) Member of the House of Representatives (since 1993) Chief Cabinet Secretary (2005–2006)	None	Yamaguchi 4th	26 August	[5]
Shigeru Ishiba		(1957-02-04)4 February 1957 (age 61)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1986) Defense Minister (2007–2008) 2008, 2012 LDP leadership candidate	Suigetsukai (Ishiba)	Tottori 1st	1 September	[6][7]

Supporters

List of Supporters

Candidates	Shinzo Abe[8]	Shigeru Ishiba[9]
Leader of Supporters	Seiko Hashimoto	Hidehisa Otsuji
Campaign Manager	Akira Amari	Yoshihisa Furukawa
Supporters	Hirotaka Ishihara Seishiro Eto Toshiaki Endo Toshitaka Ōoka Tetsushi Sakamoto Katsuei Hirasawa Noriko Horiuchi Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi Hiromichi Watanabe Shigeharu Aoyama Haruko Arimura Masahisa Sato Emiko Takashina Yoshifumi Tsuge Ichiro Tsukada Takashi Hanyuda Toru Miki Toshiei Mizuochi	Junichi Ishii Yoshifumi Matsumura Kazuhiko Aoki Saburo Shimada Shoji Maitate Satoshi Nakanishi Seiichiro Murakami Gen Nakatani Kisaburo Tokai Keiichiro Tachibana Tatsuya Ito Norihisa Tamura Ryosei Akazawa Masaaki Taira Mamoru Fukuyama Yoshinori Tadokoro Saichi Kamiyama Hiroyuki Togashi

Expressed intention but did not have enough supporters for nomination

• Seiko Noda, then-Interior Minister.^[10][11][12]

• 
  Interior Minister
  Seiko Noda
  (2017–2018)

Speculative

• Tarō Kōno, current Foreign Minister.^[13][14] Son of Yōhei Kōno, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives.
• Tarō Asō, current Finance Minister and former Prime Minister of Japan.^[15] Grandson of former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.
• Shinjiro Koizumi, First Vice Secretary-General of the LDP and son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.^[16]

• 
  Foreign Minister
  Tarō Kōno
  (2017–2019)
• 
  Finance Minister
  Tarō Asō
  (2012–2021)
• 
  First Vice Secretary-General of the LDP
  Shinjirō Koizumi
  (2017–present)

Declined

• Fumio Kishida, current chair of the LDP Policy Research Council and former Foreign Minister in the Second and Third Abe Cabinet.^[11][17][18]

• 
  Foreign Minister
  Fumio Kishida
  (2012–2017)

Results

Full result

Candidate	MPs		Party members			Total
	Votes	%	Popular votes	Allocated votes	%	Votes		%
Shinzo Abe 当	329	81.84%	355,487	224	55.31%	553		68.53%
Shigeru Ishiba	73	18.16%	286,003	181	44.69%	254		31.47%
Total	402	100.00%	641,490	405	100.00%	807		100.00%