Overview

• Party officials are shifting the publication of the Upper House election assessment from late August to early September due to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s packed diplomatic calendar, including visits by the leaders of South Korea and India.
• The report, compiled by a committee led by Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama, has drawn on hearings with experts and defeated candidates.
• LDP leadership plans call for presenting the findings at a joint plenary meeting of lawmakers from both chambers once the report is finalized.
• Moriyama has suggested he may step down after the assessment is completed, and reports say senior officials Shunichi Suzuki, Itsunori Onodera, and Seiji Kihara have indicated they could follow.
• The party’s leadership election committee is slated to meet on August 27 to hash out procedures and plans to begin gauging support for a potential acceleration of the leadership contest after the report is released.