# 2018 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) presidential election

A presidential election was held on 20 September 2018 to elect the next president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan for a new 3-year term. Incumbent president Shinzo Abe was running for re-election after a rule change in 2017 that allowed him to run for a third term.
Abe's subsequent victory led to him staying as prime minister for just under two years. In this time, on 22 November 2019, he broke the record for the nation's longest-serving prime ministership previously held by Taro Katsura, who had served three times between 1901 and 1913. He also served the longest uninterrupted term by 24 August 2020, ahead of Eisaku Satō's 2,797 days, before resigning four days later.

## Background
### Scandals

In March 2018, it was revealed that the Finance Ministry (with finance minister Tarō Asō at its head) had falsified documents presented to the parliament in relation to the Moritomo Gakuen scandal, to remove 14 passages implicating Abe. It has been suggested that the scandal could cost Abe his seat as the Liberal Democratic Party's leader. A Kyodo poll showed the Japanese government popularity's has fallen as low as 30% from 44% in February.

## Candidates
### Nominated

| Candidate(s) | Candidate(s) | Date of birth | Notable positions | Party faction(s) | District(s) | Announced | Reference(s) |
| Shinzo Abe | | (1954-09-21)21 September 1954 (age 63) | President of the LDP (2006-2007, since 2012) Prime Minister (2006–2007, since 2012) Member of the House of Representatives (since 1993) Chief Cabinet Secretary (2005–2006) | None | Yamaguchi 4th | 26 August | |
| Shigeru Ishiba | | (1957-02-04)4 February 1957 (age 61) | Member of the House of Representatives (since 1986) Defense Minister (2007–2008) 2008, 2012 LDP leadership candidate | Suigetsukai (Ishiba) | Tottori 1st | 1 September | |

#### Supporters

List of Supporters :
| Candidates | Shinzo Abe | Shigeru Ishiba |
| Leader of Supporters | Seiko Hashimoto | Hidehisa Otsuji |
| Campaign Manager | Akira Amari | Yoshihisa Furukawa |
| Supporters | Hirotaka IshiharaSeishiro EtoToshiaki EndoToshitaka ŌokaTetsushi SakamotoKatsuei HirasawaNoriko HoriuchiMitsuhiro MiyakoshiHiromichi WatanabeShigeharu AoyamaHaruko ArimuraMasahisa SatoEmiko TakashinaYoshifumi TsugeIchiro TsukadaTakashi HanyudaToru MikiToshiei Mizuochi | Junichi IshiiYoshifumi MatsumuraKazuhiko AokiSaburo ShimadaShoji MaitateSatoshi NakanishiSeiichiro MurakamiGen NakataniKisaburo TokaiKeiichiro TachibanaTatsuya ItoNorihisa TamuraRyosei AkazawaMasaaki TairaMamoru FukuyamaYoshinori TadokoroSaichi KamiyamaHiroyuki Togashi |

### Expressed intention but did not have enough supporters for nomination

* Seiko Noda, then-Interior Minister.
* Interior Minister Seiko Noda (2017–2018)

### Speculative

* Tarō Kōno, current Foreign Minister. Son of Yōhei Kōno, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives.
* Tarō Asō, current Finance Minister and former Prime Minister of Japan. Grandson of former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.
* Shinjiro Koizumi, First Vice Secretary-General of the LDP and son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
* Foreign Minister Tarō Kōno (2017–2019)
* Finance Minister Tarō Asō (2012–2021)
* First Vice Secretary-General of the LDP Shinjirō Koizumi (2017–present)

### Declined

* Fumio Kishida, current chair of the LDP Policy Research Council and former Foreign Minister in the Second and Third Abe Cabinet.
* Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (2012–2017)

## Results

Full result :
| Candidate | MPs | MPs | Party members | Party members | Party members | Total | Total | Total |
| Candidate | Votes | % | Popular votes | Allocated votes | % | Votes | Votes | % |
| Shinzo Abe 当 | 329 | 81.84% | 355,487 | 224 | 55.31% | 553 | | 68.53% |
| Shigeru Ishiba | 73 | 18.16% | 286,003 | 181 | 44.69% | 254 | | 31.47% |
| Total | 402 | 100.00% | 641,490 | 405 | 100.00% | 807 | | 100.00% |