Japan's ruling LDP to hold party leader poll on Sept. 29

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, August 25, 2021. /CFP

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's ruling party will hold a leadership election on September 29, party officials said on Thursday, ahead of an expected challenge from former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.

Suga, 72, took office last September with support of about 70 percent but his ratings have sunk below 30 percent as Japan battles its worst wave of

COVID-19 infections

and many of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers fear for their seats.

Suga has said he plans to seek re-election as LDP president. Victory would ensure he remains the prime minister because of the LDP's majority in parliament's lower house.

Kishida, who heads a faction of the party, was expected to announce his candidacy Thursday, local media cited sources familiar with the matter as saying.

LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai, who was key to Suga's victory last year, said on Wednesday he still backs the prime minister. Other party bosses, including Shinzo Abe and Finance Minister Taro Aso, have not commented publicly.

Kishida had been seen as the preferred heir to Abe, who stepped down last year as prime minister citing ill health. But Kishida lost the ensuing party poll after factions coalesced around Suga, who had been Abe's right-hand man for eight years.

Unlike last year, this time grassroots LDP members will vote along with the party's members of parliament.

(With input from Reuters, Xinhua)