Overview

• Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has decided to run and plans a formal announcement next week after consulting supporters in Yokosuka.
• The field is widely expected to be five contenders: Koizumi, Sanae Takaichi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, former secretary-general Toshimitsu Motegi, and former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi.
• A Kyodo/Chunichi emergency poll reports 76.4% do not expect Ishiba’s resignation to restore LDP trust, with Takaichi leading preferred next leader at 28.0%, followed by Koizumi at 22.5% and Hayashi at 11.4%.
• The LDP’s Saitama prefectural federation is probing about 1,100 suspected private uses of party dues, potentially totaling roughly ¥29 million from 2020 to 2025, including purchases such as a women’s bag and cat food.
• The party’s Warabi branch expelled city councilor Toshinori Kobayashi for supporting a Sanseito candidate in the Upper House race, and the Constitutional Democratic Party’s new leadership moved to accelerate preparations for a possible early election.