Overview

• The LDP-led government is coordinating an extraordinary Diet session on Oct. 15 where lawmakers are expected to elect Shigeru Ishiba’s successor and the new Cabinet would be formed the same day, party sources said.
• The winner of Saturday’s LDP leadership election is likely to become prime minister, as talks among the CDP, JIP and DPP to field a unified rival have stalled.
• Shinjiro Koizumi, Sanae Takaichi and Yoshimasa Hayashi are identified as the leading contenders to take the party presidency and, by extension, the premiership.
• Campaign controversies have overshadowed policy debates, including accusations that Koizumi’s camp orchestrated online praise, the resignation of ally Karen Makishima, and subsequent calls from critics for Koizumi to withdraw.
• The initial agenda for the new leader includes addresses and questioning in both chambers, expected submission of a supplementary budget, consideration of a gasoline tax surcharge repeal bill, and schedule planning around an ASEAN-related visit to Malaysia from around Oct. 26.