3 months ago
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Japan
's former environment minister and leading
prime ministerial candidate
,
Shinjiro Koizumi
announced on Friday that he would call for an early
at the soonest possible date if he were to secure victory in the ruling party's leadership election scheduled for this month.
During a press conference where he declared his intention to participate in the race, Koizumi stated that he would largely maintain the economic policies implemented by the current Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida's administration, if he were to assume the role of the nation's next leader, Reuters reported.
"I'll aim to beef up the underlying strength of the Japanese economy so that growth can be attained even in an era where inflation and higher interest rates co-exist," Koizumi said.
Koizumi, aged 43 and the son of former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, is considered a top contender in the September 27 election to determine the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Due to the party's parliamentary majority, the chosen leader will become the next prime minister. A Nikkei newspaper poll conducted on August 21-22 ranked Koizumi as the most popular candidate for the
LDP leadership
, followed by Shigeru Ishiba, a former defence minister.
Earlier, Kishida announced last month that he would step down as LDP chief in September, ending three-year term as leader of the world's fourth-largest economy.
His administration led Japan out of the COVID-19 pandemic with massive fiscal spending and focused on boosting household income by prodding businesses to hike wages.
On monetary policy, Kishida laid the groundwork for the Bank of Japan to phase out its radical monetary stimulus by appointing academic Kazuo Ueda as the bank's governor, according to Reuters.
The victor of the LDP election will be appointed as prime minister during a special parliamentary session in early October. Analysts suggest that the earliest the new premier could dissolve parliament and announce a snap election would be mid-October, following the delivery of a policy speech and responding to questions from party leaders in both houses.
