Hayashi to announce LDP leadership race candidacy Tuesday

He will explain to reporters the reasons for deciding to run for the race to pick the successor of outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. This marks Hayashi's third bid for the party presidency, following his previous runs in 2012 and 2024.

Former LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi, 69, and former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, 50, have already declared their candidacies. Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, has also conveyed his intention to run to those around him and supporters in his constituency in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, 64, plans to hold a press conference this week to announce her intention to become a candidate.

Hayashi was first elected to the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of Japan's parliament, in the Yamaguchi electoral district in western Japan in 1995. During his fifth term in the Upper House, he switched to the Yamaguchi No. 3 district of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, and was elected in the 2021 election. He is currently serving his second term in the Lower House.

He has served as agriculture minister and foreign minister, and was appointed chief cabinet secretary in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in December 2023. He was reappointed to the position in the Ishiba cabinet formed in October 2024.

 [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]