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Former Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba is the most popular choice among the public to be the next prime minister, media opinion polls showed, as the race to succeed Shinzo Abe begins after his abrupt resignation last week. .
Ishiba has about 34% of the public’s support, more than double the 14% of Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the second most popular choice, a Kyodo News poll showed over the weekend.
A Nikkei / TV Tokyo poll showed Ishiba 28% support, followed by current Defense Minister Taro Kono with 15%. Suga came in fourth with 11%, the poll showed.
Polls highlight a division between public opinion and the internal politics of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Suga, a former deputy to Abe in a key supporting role, is expected to gain backing from the faction led by LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai and other major factions, local media reported, putting him in the spotlight. a favorable position.
That would make it an uphill battle for Ishiba, a vocal critic of Abe who unsuccessfully challenged the outgoing prime minister in the last race for the LDP leadership in 2018 and is considered less popular within the party.
Another potential candidate, the PLD’s policy chief, Fumio Kishida, was last in the two public opinion polls.
Abe’s resignation announcement on Friday, citing a worsening chronic illness, laid the groundwork for the party’s leadership elections, which public broadcaster NHK said would likely take place between Sept. 13-15.
The PLD president is practically certain of being prime minister due to the majority of the party in the lower house of parliament.
Brad Glosserman, deputy director of the Center for Policymaking Strategies at Tama University, said Suga was the safe bet in terms of the internal dynamics of the LDP, but that he might not be ideal at the time of the election. General elections must be held at the end of October 2021.
“He doesn’t seem to have the charisma or the vision to push Japan in a new direction. He seems to be the eternal Number Two, he keeps the promises made by his boss,” Glosserman said.
