On October 9, reports from Kyodo News revealed significant developments within Japan’s political landscape. The House of Representatives is poised to dissolve, prompting the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to convene an urgent election strategy meeting at their headquarters. During this meeting, party leaders made the critical decision to exclude 12 members associated with faction-related kickback controversies from their candidate list.
Notably, this group includes six individuals from the former Abe faction, along with an additional six members who had previously been deemed ineligible to run. Leading the discussions was Shigeru Ishiba, the party president and current Prime Minister, who also chairs the election strategy committee.
The LDP announced its intention to field a total of 279 candidates in the upcoming elections: 265 for single-member districts and 14 for proportional representation. Among those newly identified as ineligible are Ichiro Kageyama, Kiyoshi Odawara, Yukiyuki Nakane, Takao Ochi, Kenichi Hosoda, and Hiroshi Imamura, all linked to the former Abe faction. Additionally, six members from the former Nikai faction—Hirofumi Shimomura, Yasutoshi Nishimura, Tsuyoshi Takagi, Koichi Hagiuda, Hiromi Mizuno, and Katsuhiro Hirazawa—have also been excluded from running.
Even more strikingly, reports suggest that, regardless of their status, the LDP will not allow any members involved in these kickback issues to stand as proportional representation candidates. This policy extends to key party figures, including Ishiba and Yuichiro Mori, who will also not be permitted to run for proportional representation, impacting around 40 individuals overall.
