Tokyo : The race is on for the next Japanese prime minister. Official election campaigning began Friday for the new head of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party, who typically becomes the national leader because of the party’s control over parliament.
Four candidates are competing in the Sept. 29 vote to replace outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who will quit when his term ends at the end of this month after serving only one year. He took over from predecessor Shinzo Abe.
Their policies largely focus on the pandemic and its economic fallout, and on the increasingly assertive role China is playing in regional affairs, reports AP.
Taro Kono, currently the Cabinet minister in charge of vaccinations and a front-runner, said in his kickoff speech on Friday that he wants a society that people see as compassionate.
