Grapevine

Who’s in the running to be Japan’s next prime minister?

Japan’s governing party is choosing a new leader in a race analysts say is more unpredictable than usual.

Japan’s governing party will choose a new leader on Friday to replace Fumio Kishida who announced his resignation in August.

The winner of the contest for leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the largest in parliament, will become the country’s next prime minister. Most analysts expect the new leader to call a snap election to secure a mandate from voters.

A record nine candidates have been campaigning and the break-up of the LDP’s usual power structures as a result of a series of corruption scandals have made it harder to predict the outcome.

Many candidates “have claimed that ‘I’m the one who can handle Trump’ or ‘I’m the one who can stand up to China'”, Jeffrey J Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies, told the AFP news agency.