Overview

• Five candidates officially entered the race: Takayuki Kobayashi, Toshimitsu Motegi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, former minister Sanae Takaichi, and Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.
• Voting is scheduled for October 4 following a 12-day campaign period that began on September 22.
• Hayashi’s recent comment that Ishiba’s resignation was “inevitable” drew criticism inside the party and has shadowed the opening of his campaign.
• Opposition parties criticized the political vacuum and called for an early Diet session along with cost-of-living measures such as gasoline tax relief.
• A lawsuit over the July Upper House election’s vote-value disparity concluded its first hearing at the Nagoya High Court, with a ruling set for October 30 after arguments over a maximum 3.13-to-1 gap.