President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) explained

The is the highest position within Japan's Liberal Democratic Party. The current holder of the position is Prime Minister of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba, who was elected to the position on 27 September 2024, following his victory in the party's presidential election.^{[1] [2]} The previous leader, Fumio Kishida announced his resignation on 14 August 2024, thereby not seeking reelection.^{[3] [4]}

Due to the dominance of the LDP in Japanese politics, all twenty-four presidents except two (Yohei Kono and Sadakazu Tanigaki) have also been the prime minister of Japan.

Elections

To be a candidate for the president, one must be a LDP member of the National Diet and must receive at least 20 nominations from other LDP members of the National Diet.^[5] The LDP selects its leader via a two-round election involving both LDP members of the Diet and dues-paying party members from across Japan.^[6] In the first round, all LDP members of the Diet cast one vote while party member votes are translated proportionally into votes equaling the other half of the total ballots. If any candidate wins a majority (over 50%) of votes in the first round, that candidate is elected President.

If no candidate receives a majority of votes in the first round, a runoff is held immediately between the top two candidates. In the runoff, all Diet members vote again while the 47 prefectural chapters of the LDP get one vote each, with the result of the latter votes determined using the first round results of party members in each prefecture. The candidate who wins the most votes in the runoff is then elected President.

The party's secretary-general can decide to organise the election with the rule of the second round only.^[7]

Term limits

According to Article 81 of the LDP Constitution, the president's term of office is three years, renewable twice consecutively.^[8] Limits have fluctuated over the years since LDP's founding:

!Period!Term of office!Term limits

1955–1972	2 years	Unlimited
1972–1974	3 years
1974–1978		Renewable once
1978–2003	2 years
2003–2017	3 years
2017–present		Renewable twice

Powers

According to the LDP constitution, the president "shall assume supreme responsibility for the Party, and represent and oversee the Party".^[9] The president appoints the secretary-general, members of Finance Committee, and the director of the Forward Policy Study Unit, all with the approval of the General Council. The president also appoints the chairpersons of the Party Organization Headquarters, the Public Relations Headquarters, the Policy Research Council the Election Strategy Council, and the Personnel Committee, as well as the director of the Forward Policy Study Unit,^[10] all with the approval of the General Council. The president can optionally appoint a vice president with the approval of the Party Convention.

The president convenes and presides over the work of the LDP Board, which includes other high-ranking members of the LDP. With the consent of the General Council, the president annually convenes the Party Convention.^[11] The president is ex officio the director-general of the Party's Election Strategy Headquarters, tasked with formulating the LDP's election strategies,^[12] and the chancellor of the Central Institute of Politics.^[13]

Presidents of the party

No.	President	Portrait	Constituency or title	Took office	Left office	Election results	Government
							Party		Prime Minister	Term
Preceding parties: Liberal Party (1950) and Democratic Party (1954)
Interim Leadership Committee (1955–1956)
—	Ichirō Hatoyama Japanese: 鳩山 一郎		Rep for Tokyo 1st	15 November 1955	5 April 1956	None			himself
	Bukichi Miki Japanese: 三木 武吉		Rep for Kagawa 1st						Hatoyama I.
	Banboku Ōno Japanese: 大野 伴睦		Rep for Gifu 1st
	Taketora Ogata Japanese: 緒方 竹虎		Rep for Fukuoka 1st		28 January 1956
	Tsuruhei Matsuno Japanese: 松野 鶴平		Cou for Kumamoto	10 February 1956	5 April 1956
President (1956–present)
1	Ichirō Hatoyama Japanese: 鳩山 一郎		Rep for Tokyo 1st	5 April 1956	14 December 1956				himself
2	Tanzan Ishibashi Japanese: 石橋 湛山		Rep for Shizuoka 2nd	14 December 1956	21 March 1957				himself
3	Nobusuke Kishi Japanese: 岸 信介		Rep for Yamaguchi 1st	21 March 1957	14 July 1960				himself
4	Hayato Ikeda Japanese: 池田 勇人		Rep for Hiroshima 2nd	14 July 1960	1 December 1964				himself
5	Eisaku Satō Japanese: 佐藤 栄作		Rep for Yamaguchi 2nd	1 December 1964	5 July 1972				himself
6	Kakuei Tanaka Japanese: 田中 角榮		Rep for Niigata 3rd	5 July 1972	4 December 1974				himself
7	Takeo Miki Japanese: 三木 武夫		Rep for Tokushima at-large	4 December 1974	23 December 1976				himself
8	Takeo Fukuda Japanese: 福田 赳夫		Rep for Gunma 3rd	23 December 1976	1 December 1978				himself
9	Masayoshi Ōhira Japanese: 大平 正芳		Rep for Kagawa 2nd	1 December 1978	12 June 1980				himself
—	Eiichi Nishimura Japanese: 西村 英一		Rep for Ōita 2nd	12 June 1980	15 July 1980	Acting			(Ito M.)
10	Zenkō Suzuki Japanese: 鈴木 善幸		Rep for Iwate 1st	15 July 1980	25 November 1982				himself
11	Yasuhiro Nakasone Japanese: 中曽根 康弘		Rep for Gunma 3rd	25 November 1982	31 October 1987				himself
12	Noboru Takeshita Japanese: 竹下 登		Rep for Shimane at-large	31 October 1987	2 June 1989				himself
13	Sōsuke Uno Japanese: 宇野 宗佑		Rep for Shiga at-large	2 June 1989	8 August 1989				himself
14	Toshiki Kaifu Japanese: 海部 俊樹		Rep for Aichi 3rd	8 August 1989	30 October 1991				himself
15	Kiichi Miyazawa Japanese: 宮澤 喜一		Rep for Hiroshima 3rd	31 October 1991	29 July 1993				himself
16	Yōhei Kōno Japanese: 河野 洋平		Rep for Kanagawa 5th	29 July 1993	1 October 1995				Hosokawa
									Hata
									Murayama (coalition)
17	Ryutaro Hashimoto Japanese: 橋本 龍太郎		Rep for Okayama 4th	1 October 1995	24 July 1998
									himself
18	Keizō Obuchi Japanese: 小渕 恵三		Rep for Gunma 5th	24 July 1998	5 April 2000				himself
19	Yoshirō Mori Japanese: 森 喜朗		Rep for Ishikawa 2nd	5 April 2000	24 April 2001				himself
20	Junichiro Koizumi Japanese: 小泉 純一郎		Rep for Kanagawa 11th	24 April 2001	20 September 2006				himself
21	Shinzo Abe Japanese: 安倍 晋三		Rep for Yamaguchi 4th	20 September 2006	23 September 2007				himself
22	Yasuo Fukuda Japanese: 福田 康夫		Rep for Gunma 4th	23 September 2007	22 September 2008				himself
23	Tarō Asō Japanese: 麻生 太郎		Rep for Fukuoka 8th	22 September 2008	28 September 2009				himself
24	Sadakazu Tanigaki Japanese: 谷垣 禎一		Rep for Kyoto 5th	28 September 2009	26 September 2012				Hatoyama Y.
									Kan
									Noda
25	Shinzo Abe Japanese: 安倍 晋三		Rep for Yamaguchi 4th	26 September 2012	14 September 2020
									himself
26	Yoshihide Suga Japanese: 菅 義偉		Rep for Kanagawa 2nd	14 September 2020	29 September 2021				himself
27	Fumio Kishida Japanese: 岸田 文雄		Rep for Hiroshima 1st	29 September 2021	27 September 2024				himself
28	Shigeru Ishiba Japanese: 石破 茂		Rep for Tottori 1st	27 September 2024	Incumbent				himself

Presidential elections

Bold indicates the winners.

Date!1st!!2nd!!3rd!!4th!!5th!!6th!!7th!!8th!!9th!!^[14]

5 April 1956		Ichirō Hatoyama	Nobusuke Kishi	Jōji Hayashi	Tanzan Ishibashi Mitsujirō Ishii Shūji Masutani Banboku Ōno	Ichirō Kōno Mamoru Shigemitsu Tsuruhei Matsuno Hayato Ikeda					5
		394	4	3	2	1
14 December 1956	First round	Nobusuke Kishi	Tanzan Ishibashi	Mitsujirō Ishii							0
		223	151	137
	Runoff	Tanzan Ishibashi	Nobusuke Kishi								0
		258	251
21 March 1957		Nobusuke Kishi	Kenzō Matsumura	Mitsujirō Ishii Tokutarō Kitamura							0
		471	2	1
14 January 1959		Nobusuke Kishi	Kenzō Matsumura	Banboku Ōno Shigeru Yoshida Mitsujirō Ishii Shūji Masutani Eisaku Satō							0
		320	166	1
14 July 1960	First round	Hayato Ikeda	Mitsujirō Ishii	Aiichirō Fujiyama	Kenzō Matsumura	Banboku Ōno					0
		246	196	49	5	1
	Runoff	Hayato Ikeda	Mitsujirō Ishii								0
		302	194
14 July 1962		Hayato Ikeda	Eisaku Satō	Hisato Ichimada	Nobusuke Kishi	Aiichirō Fujiyama	Shigeru Yoshida Takeo Fukuda	Hitoshi Takahashi Matsutarō Shōriki			0
		391	17	6	5	3	2	1
10 July 1964		Hayato Ikeda	Eisaku Satō	Aiichirō Fujiyama	Hirokichi Nadao						0
		242	160	72	1
1 December 1964		Eisaku Satō	One candidate (elected by Ikeda)
1 December 1966		Eisaku Satō	Aiichirō Fujiyama	Shigesaburō Maeo	Hirokichi Nadao	Uichi Noda	Zentarō Kosaka	Nobusuke Kishi Kenzō Matsumura Isamu Murakami			0
		289	89	47	11	9	2	1
27 November 1968		Eisaku Satō	Takeo Miki	Shigesaburō Maeo	Aiichirō Fujiyama						0
		249	107	95	1
29 October 1970		Eisaku Satō	Takeo Miki	Saburō Chiba Aiichirō Fujiyama Tokuma Utsunomiya							0
		353	111	1
5 July 1972	First round	Kakuei Tanaka	Takeo Fukuda	Masayoshi Ōhira	Takeo Miki						7
		156	150	101	69
	Runoff	Kakuei Tanaka	Takeo Fukuda								0
		282	190
4 December 1974		Takeo Miki	One candidate (elected by Vice-President Etsusaburō Shiina)
23 December 1976		Takeo Fukuda	One candidate (elected by discussion at the general meeting of LDP National Diet members of both houses)
26 November 1978	Primaries[15]	Masayoshi Ōhira	Takeo Fukuda	Yasuhiro Nakasone	Toshio Kōmoto						0
		748 pts	638 pts	93 pts	46 pts
	Runoff	Masayoshi Ōhira	2nd candidate withdrew
15 July 1980		Zenkō Suzuki	One candidate (elected by Vice-President Eiichi Nishimura)
27 November 1980		Zenkō Suzuki	One candidate(re-elected without voting in the leadership election due to the expiration of the term of office of Suzuki)
24 November 1982	Primaries[16]	Yasuhiro Nakasone	Toshio Kōmoto	Shintaro Abe	Ichiro Nakagawa						0
		559673	265078	80443	66041
	Runoff	Yasuhiro Nakasone	2nd and below candidates withdrew
30 October 1984		Yasuhiro Nakasone	One candidate(re-elected without voting in the leadership election due to the expiration of the term of office of Nakasone)
11 September 1986		Yasuhiro Nakasone	Extension of term of office by one year(Unanimously re-elected Nakasone's term of office at the general meeting of LDP National Diet members of both houses)
31 October 1987		Noboru Takeshita	One candidate (elected by Nakasone)
2 June 1989		Sōsuke Uno	One candidate (elected by Takeshita)
8 August 1989		Toshiki Kaifu	Yoshiro Hayashi	Shintaro Ishihara							0
		279	120	48
31 October 1989		Toshiki Kaifu	One candidate(re-elected without voting in the leadership election due to the expiration of the term of office of Kaifu)
27 October 1991		Kiichi Miyazawa	Michio Watanabe	Hiroshi Mitsuzuka							0
		285	120	87
30 July 1993		Yōhei Kōno	Michio Watanabe								0
		208	159
30 September 1993		Yōhei Kōno	One candidate(re-elected without voting in the leadership election due to the expiration of the term of office of Kōno)
22 September 1995		Ryutaro Hashimoto	Junichiro Koizumi								0
		304	87
11 September 1997		Ryutaro Hashimoto	One candidate(re-elected without voting in the leadership election due to the expiration of the term of office of Hashimoto)
24 July 1998		Keizō Obuchi	Seiroku Kajiyama	Junichiro Koizumi							0
		225	102	84
21 September 1999		Keizō Obuchi	Koichi Kato	Taku Yamasaki							0
		350	113	51
5 April 2000		Yoshirō Mori	One candidate (elected by discussion at the general meeting of LDP National Diet members of both houses)
24 April 2001		Junichiro Koizumi	Ryutaro Hashimoto	Tarō Asō	(Shizuka Kamei withdrew after the ballot counting)						3
		298	155	31
10 August 2001		Junichiro Koizumi	One candidate(re-elected without voting in the leadership election due to the expiration of the term of office of Koizumi)
20 September 2003		Junichiro Koizumi	Shizuka Kamei	Takao Fujii	Masahiko Kōmura						0
		399	139	65	54
20 September 2006 (Detail)		Shinzo Abe	Tarō Asō	Sadakazu Tanigaki							1
		464	136	102
23 September 2007 (Detail)		Yasuo Fukuda	Tarō Asō								1
		330	197
22 September 2008 (Detail)		Tarō Asō	Kaoru Yosano	Yuriko Koike	Nobuteru Ishihara	Shigeru Ishiba					2
		351	66	46	37	25
28 September 2009 (Detail)		Sadakazu Tanigaki	Taro Kono	Yasutoshi Nishimura							1
		300	144	54
26 September 2012 (Detail)	First round	Shigeru Ishiba	Shinzo Abe	Nobuteru Ishihara	Nobutaka Machimura	Yoshimasa Hayashi					1
		199	141	96	34	27
	Runoff	Shinzo Abe	Shigeru Ishiba								1
		108	89
8 September 2015 (Detail)		Shinzo Abe	One candidate(re-elected without voting in the leadership election due to the expiration of the term of office of Abe)
20 September 2018 (Detail)		Shinzo Abe	Shigeru Ishiba								3
		553	254
14 September 2020 (Detail)		Yoshihide Suga	Fumio Kishida	Shigeru Ishiba							0
		377	89	68
29 September 2021 (Detail)	First round	Fumio Kishida	Taro Kono	Sanae Takaichi	Seiko Noda						1
		256	255	188	63
	Runoff	Fumio Kishida	Taro Kono								1
		257	170
27 September 2024 (Detail)	First round	Sanae Takaichi	Shigeru Ishiba	Shinjirō Koizumi	Yoshimasa Hayashi	Takayuki Kobayashi	Toshimitsu Motegi	Yōko Kamikawa	Taro Kono	Katsunobu Katō	1
		181	154	136	65	60	47	40	30	22
	Runoff	Shigeru Ishiba	Sanae Takaichi
		215	194

References

1. Web site: Fumio Kishida elected as new leader of Japan's ruling LDP . 2022-09-07 . Nikkei Asia . en-GB.
2. Web site: The President Liberal Democratic Party of Japan . 2022-09-07 . www.jimin.jp.
3. Web site: 2024-08-14 . Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will not run for party reelection . 2024-08-14 . CNBC . en.
4. News: Lee . Michelle Ye Hee . Inuma . Julia Mio . 2024-08-14 . Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says he will step down next month . 2024-08-14 . Washington Post . en-US . 0190-8286.
5. Web site: Rules for election of President Liberal Democratic Party of Japan . 2022-09-08 . www.jimin.jp.
6. Web site: Harris . Tobias . 24 September 2021 . Japanese Prime Minister Suga Has No Clear Successor . 29 September 2021 . Foreign Policy.
7. Web site: Ryotaro Nakamaru . 29 August 2020 . Race to succeed Abe kicks off with no clear favorite . 5 October 2021 . The Japan Times . en . thejapantimes.
8. Web site: LDP Constitution: Chapter XI Terms of Office . 23 October 2023 . Liberal Democratic Party.
9. Web site: LDP Constitution: Chapter II Executive Bodies . 20 October 2023 . Liberal Democratic Party.
10. Web site: LDP Constitution: Chapter IV Policy Research Council . 23 October 2023 . Liberal Democratic Party.
11. Web site: LDP Constitution: Chapter III Decision-Making Bodies . 23 October 2023 . Liberal Democratic Party.
12. Web site: LDP Constitution: Chapter V Election Strategy Headquarters . 23 October 2023 . Liberal Democratic Party.
13. Web site: LDP Constitution: Chapter IX The Central Institute of Politics . 23 October 2023 . Liberal Democratic Party.
14. Since the leadership election before 1972 is not a candidacy system, votes for members who did not campaign are also calculated as valid votes.
15. Primary election by general party members. With a point system in which 1000 votes are calculated as 1 point and distributed proportionally to the top two candidates, the two candidates in the primary election will advance to runoff by members of the National Diet.
16. Primary election by general party members. With a total vote system, the top three candidates will advance to runoff.