| Election Name: | 2018 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election |
| Flag Image: | Liberal Democratic Party of Japan logo.svg |
| Type: | legislative |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2015 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership election |
| Previous Year: | 2015 |
| Next Election: | 2020 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership election |
| Next Year: | 2020 |
| Election Date: | 20 September 2018 |
| 1Blank: | LDP MPs |
| 2Blank: | Party members |
| 3Blank: | Total |
| Candidate1: | Shinzo Abe |
| Color1: | 438C15 |
| Leaders Seat1: | Yamaguchi-4th |
| 1Data1: | 329 (81.8%) |
| 2Data1: | 224 (55.3%) |
| 3Data1: | 553 (68.5%) |
| Candidate2: | Shigeru Ishiba |
| Color2: | 0B75D9 |
| Leaders Seat2: | Tottori-1st |
| 1Data2: | 73 (18.2%) |
| 2Data2: | 181 (44.7%) |
| 3Data2: | 254 (31.5%) |
| President | |
| Before Election: | Shinzo Abe |
| After Election: | Shinzo Abe |
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.[1]
Abe's subsequent victory[2] 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.
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.[3] It has been suggested that the scandal could cost Abe his seat as the Liberal Democratic Party's leader.[3] A Kyodo poll showed the Japanese government popularity's has fallen as low as 30% from 44% in February.[4]
| Candidate(s) | Date of birth | Notable positions | Party faction(s) | District(s) | Announced | Reference(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shinzo Abe | 21 September 1954 | None | Yamaguchi 4th district | 26 August | [5] | |||
| Shigeru Ishiba | 4 February 1957 | Member of the House of Representatives Defense Minister 2008, 2012 LDP leadership candidate | Suigetsukai | Tottori 1st district | 1 September | [6] [7] | ||
| Shigeru Ishiba[9] | |||
| Leader of Supporters | Seiko Hashimoto | Hidehisa Otsuji | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campaign Manager | Akira Amari | Yoshihisa Furukawa | |
| Supporters | Hirotaka Ishihara Seishiro Eto Toshiaki Endo Toshitaka Ōoka Tetsushi Sakamoto Katsuei Hirasawa Noriko Horiuchi Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi Hiromichi Watanabe Shigeharu Aoyama Haruko Arimura Masahisa Sato Emiko Takashina Yoshifumi Tsuge Ichiro Tsukada Takashi Hanyuda Toru Miki Toshiei Mizuochi | Junichi Ishii Yoshifumi Matsumura Kazuhiko Aoki Saburo Shimada Shoji Maitate Satoshi Nakanishi Seiichiro Murakami Gen Nakatani Kisaburo Tokai Keiichiro Tachibana Tatsuya Ito Norihisa Tamura Ryosei Akazawa Masaaki Taira Mamoru Fukuyama Yoshinori Tadokoro Saichi Kamiyama Hiroyuki Togashi |
| Shinzo Abe | 329 (82%) | 355,487 (55.4%, 224 pts) | 553 (68.5%) | |
| Shigeru Ishiba | 73 (18%) | 286,003 (44.6%, 181 pts) | 254 (31.5%) | |
| Total | 402 | 641,490 (405 pts) | 807 |
|---|