| Election Name: | 2020 Liberal Democratic Party leadership election |
| Flag Image: | Liberal Democratic Party of Japan logo.svg |
| Type: | legislative |
| Votes For Election: | 535 delegates in total |
| Needed Votes: | 268 or more delegate |
| Vote Type: | Caucus |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2018 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership election |
| Previous Year: | 2018 |
| Next Election: | 2021 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership election |
| Next Year: | 2021 |
| Election Date: | 14 September 2020[1] |
| 1Blank: | LDP MPs |
| 2Blank: | Prefectural votes |
| 3Blank: | Total |
| Candidate1: | Yoshihide Suga |
| Color1: | F2BA42 |
| Leaders Seat1: | Kanagawa-2nd |
| 1Data1: | 288 (73.1%) |
| 2Data1: | 89 (63.1%) |
| 3Data1: | 377 (70.5%) |
| Candidate2: | Fumio Kishida |
| Color2: | B61B28 |
| Leaders Seat2: | Hiroshima-1st |
| 1Data2: | 79 (20.1%) |
| 2Data2: | 10 (7.1%) |
| 3Data2: | 89 (16.6%) |
| Candidate3: | Shigeru Ishiba |
| Color3: | 224192 |
| Leaders Seat3: | Tottori-1st |
| 1Data3: | 26 (6.6%) |
| 2Data3: | 42 (29.8%) |
| 3Data3: | 68 (12.7%) |
| President | |
| Before Election: | Shinzo Abe |
| After Election: | Yoshihide Suga |
The 2020 Liberal Democratic Party of Japan presidential election was triggered by Shinzo Abe's announcement on 28 August 2020 that he would resign as President of the Liberal Democratic Party and Prime Minister of Japan, citing a relapse of his colitis. Voting took place on 14 September 2020 to elect the next president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, three days before the National Diet was scheduled to hold a session to elect the new Prime Minister. Initially scheduled to be held in September 2021, incumbent LDP president and the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, suddenly resigned on 28 August 2020, citing recent health concerns, prompting an election to select the President to serve the rest of Abe's term.[2] [3] [4]
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga easily won the election, securing endorsements from a majority of voting members of the party in the days preceding the vote.[5] As the Liberal Democratic Party controlled a majority in the National Diet as a member of the governing coalition, Suga successfully succeeded Abe as Prime Minister of Japan on 16 September 2020. His principal rival, Fumio Kishida, later succeeded him as prime minister after Suga's resignation in October 2021.
Following several hospital visits which launched speculation into his health,[6] [7] incumbent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced during a press conference on 28 August 2020 that he would resign before the end of his final term in office due to a resurgence of his chronic ulcerative colitis. During the press conference, Abe announced that as a result the LDP is preparing for a leadership election to choose his successor, and that he would not endorse any specific candidate.[2] [3] [4]
There are two ways by which the president could be elected in the leadership election: the first would be an open election in which voting power is given to both party members and members of the National Diet. Each would receive half of the voting power to elect the new president. The other method would allow the vote to be restricted to the Diet members (394) and representatives from each of Japan’s 47 prefectures (141), which would add up to 535 electors.[8] According to an LDP lawmaker, Toshihiro Nikai, the party's secretary-general, decided on the second option.[9] To appear on the ballot, candidates must receive at least 20 nominations from the 394 Diet members in the LDP caucus.[10]
| Candidate(s) | Date of birth | Notable positions | Party faction(s) | District(s) | Announced | Reference(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shigeru Ishiba | 4 February 1957 | Member of the House of Representatives Defense Minister 2008, 2012 and 2018 LDP leadership candidate | Suigetsukai | Tottori 1st | 1 September | [13] | ||
| Fumio Kishida | 29 July 1957 | Kōchikai | Hiroshima 1st | 1 September | [14] | |||
| Yoshihide Suga | 6 December 1948 | Kanagawa 2nd | 2 September | [15] | ||||
| Yoshihide Suga | Fumio Kishida | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leader of Supporters | Ichirō Kamoshita | Hachiro Okonogi | Toshiaki Endo | |
| Campaign Manager | Yūji Yamamoto | Yasukazu Hamada | Toshiaki Endo | |
| Supporters | Hiroaki Kadoyama Tetsuya Yagi Takashi Yamashita Masazumi Gotoda Shoji Maitate Satoshi Nakanishi Seiichiro Murakami Gen Nakatani Kisaburo Tokai Keiichiro Tachibana Tatsuya Ito Ken Saitō Ryosei Akazawa Masaaki Taira Mamoru Fukuyama Asahiko Mihara Saichi Kamiyama Hiroyuki Togashi | Ryū Shionoya Takashi Fujiwara Miki Yamada Junzo Yamamoto Tetsushi Sakamoto Hideki Makihara Yūmi Yoshikawa Taro Kono Karen Makishima Haruko Arimura Taimei Yamaguchi Kozaburo Nishime Takako Suzuki Yoshifumi Tsuge Hiroo Ishii Katsuei Hirasawa Takamori Yoshikawa Yosuke Tsuruho Yayoi Kimura | Takumi Nemoto Shogo Azemoto Hiroyuki Ōnishi Shunpei Kaneko Yōko Kamikawa Ayano Kunimitsu Kiyoto Tsuji Shoji Nishida Yoichi Fukazawa Noriko Horiuchi Hideki Murai Takeru Yoshikawa Toshiyuki Adachi Takashi Koyari Yoshimasa Hayashi Shinya Fujiki Yasuhiro Ozato Ayuko Kato Taro Honda |
| Polling firm/link | Date of polling | Sample size | Fumio Kishida | Shinjiro Koizumi | Tarō Kōno | Shigeru Ishiba | Hakubun Shimomura | Yoshihide Suga | Undecided/NOTA | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mainichi Shimbun/SSRC | 9 September 2020 | Unknown | - | - | - | 36% | - | align="center" | 44% | align="center" | 20% | ||
| Asahi Shimbun | 2–3 September 2020 | 1,130 | 5% | - | - | 25% | - | align="center" | 38% | align="center" | 32% | ||
| Nikkei/TV Tokyo | 29–30 August 2020 | Unknown | 6% | 14% | 15% | align="center" | 28% | - | 11% | align="center" | 26% | ||
| Kyodo News | 28–30 August 2020 | 1,050 | 7.5% | 10.1% | 13.6% | align="center" | 34.3% | - | 14.3% | align="center" | 20.2% |
| Candidate | Diet members | Prefectural representatives | Total points | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes cast | % | Votes (w/o Okinawa) | Delegates | % | Total votes | % | |||
| Yoshihide Suga | 288 | 73.1% | >364,866 | 89 | 63.1% | 377 | 70.5% | ||
| Fumio Kishida | 79 | 20.1% | >91,094 | 10 | 7.1% | 89 | 16.6% | ||
| Shigeru Ishiba | 26 | 6.6% | >216,022 | 42 | 29.8% | 68 | 12.7% | ||
| Total | 394 | 100% | >671,982 | 141 | 100% | 535 | 100% | ||
44 prefectural LDP branches held primaries, while the prefectural federations in Hokkaidō and Niigata conducted questionnaire-style surveys among their members and the LDP Akita didn't hold any form of membership vote.
Of the 46 primaries or surveys, Kishida only carried his home prefecture of Hiroshima, winning all three delegates, and Yamanashi where he won two delegates over one for Suga.
Ishiba won all three delegates in his home prefecture of Tottori, and carried Toyama, Mie, Shimane, Kōchi and Miyazaki by two delegates to one over Suga. Yamagata, Fukushima, Kagawa, Nagasaki and Kumamoto split their delegates evenly between the three candidates.
In all other prefectures, Suga prevailed, winning either all three prefectural delegates, or two with the third going to Ishiba, depending on the vote margin of his victory and on whether the primary voting system was d'Hondt proportional, as it was in the majority of prefectures, or FPTP.[20]