2020 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) presidential election

The 2020 Liberal Democratic Party of Japan leadership election was held on 14 September 2020 to elect the next president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. This happened three days before the National Diet held a session to elect the new Prime Minister.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga easily won the election. As the Liberal Democratic Party currently controls a majority in the National Diet as a member of the governing coalition, Suga is also expected to succeed Abe as Japan's prime minister.

Background
It was supposed to be held in September 2021, however incumbent party president and the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, suddenly resigned on 28 August 2020, because of health reasons. 

The winner of the race filled in for the remainder of Abe's term as president. As the Liberal Democratic Party controlled a majority in the National Diet, the winner of the race would also replace Abe as Japan's prime minister.

Candidates

Declared
Shigeru Ishiba, runner-up in the 2012 and 2018 leadership elections; member of the House of Representatives for Tottori 1st district; former Minister for Overcoming Population Decline and Vitalizing Local Economy (2014–2016) and Defense Minister (2007–2008).
Fumio Kishida, current chair of the LDP Policy Research Council, member of the House of Representatives for Hiroshima 1st district; former Minister of Foreign Affairs (2012–2017), former acting Defense Minister (2017).
 Yoshihide Suga, Chief Cabinet Secretary, member of the House of Representatives for Kanagawa 2nd district; former Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications (2006–2007).

Polling
Polling firm/linkDate of pollingSample sizeFumio KishidaShinjiro KoizumiTarō KōnoShigeru IshibaHakubun ShimomuraYoshihide SugaUndecided/NOTANotes Mainichi Shimbun/SSRC 9 September 2020 Unknown – – – 36% – 44% 20% Asahi Shimbun  2-3 September 2020 1,130 5% – – 25% – 38% 32%  Nikkei/TV Tokyo 29-30 August 2020 Unknown 6% 14% 15% 28% – 11% 26% Kyodo News  28-30 August 2020 1,050 7.5% 10.1% 13.6% 34.3% – 14.3% 20.2%

Results
+ Results  CandidateDiet membersPrefectural representativesTotal pointsVotes cast%Votes cast%Total votes% 75px Yoshihide Suga28873.1%8963.1%
|377|70.5%''' 75px Fumio Kishida7920.1%107.1%8916.6% 75px Shigeru Ishiba266.6%4229.8%6812.7% Total  394  100%  141  100%  535  100%

References

Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal Democratic Party
Category:Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)
Category:Shigeru Ishiba
Category:Fumio Kishida
Category:Yoshihide Suga