2008 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) presidential election

Last updated November 02, 2024

The 2008 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election was held on 22 September 2008 after the incumbent party leader and Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda announced that he would resign on 1 September 2008, only 11 months after taking office on 25 September 2007 following a leadership election on 23 September 2007. Tarō Asō, who had lost to Shinzo Abe in the 2006 leadership election and then again lost to Fukuda in 2007, was widely seen as the frontrunner to replace him,^[1] and announced on 2 September 2008 he was ready to take over as party leader.^[2] Aso won the leadership election against four opponents, receiving 67% of the vote.^[3]

It was reported that Yuriko Koike, a former defence chief who is seen as close to former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, might stand against Aso; in that case, the LDP leadership election would be a decision between the conservative traditionalist Aso and the unorthodox reformist Koike.^[4] Economics minister Kaoru Yosano and former transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara, the son of the controversial right-wing nationalist governor of Tokyo Shintarō Ishihara, also indicated they might run,^[5] as did former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, senior vice foreign minister Ichita Yamamoto and former science and economic minister Yasufumi Tanahashi.^[6] Campaigning began on 10 September 2008;^[7] a total of 528 people are eligible to vote (387 Diet members and 141 prefectural representatives).^[8]

To stand in the election, candidates had to gather twenty signatures from electors. Aso formally declared his candidacy on 5 September 2008,^[9] and Koike on 8 September 2008.^[10] Yosano, Ishiba and Ishihara also filed to run, while Yamamoto and Tanahashi decided not to stand for the leadership.^[11]^[12] Koizumi announced he would support and vote for Koike.^[13]

By election day, Aso had secured the votes of at least 60% of the electors and was assumed to win the election in the first round.^[14]

Aso went on to win the election by a landslide 351 votes. Yosano got 66 votes, Koike 46, Ishihara 37 and Ishiba 25.^[3]^[15] Aso was sworn in as Prime Minister on 24 September 2008. Some speculated that a general election would be called on 3 October for 26 October 2008 following the leadership election, but this failed to materialise.^[16]^[17]^[18]^[19]

Candidates

Declared

Candidate(s)	Date of birth	Current position	Party faction	Electoral district
Tarō Asō	(1940-09-20)20 September 1940 (age 68)	Member of the House of Representatives (1979–1983, since 1986) Previous offices held Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications (2003–2005) Minister for Foreign Affairs (2005–2007)	Ikōkai (Asō)	Fukuoka 8th
Kaoru Yosano	(1938-08-22)22 August 1938 (age 70)	Member of the House of Representatives (1976–1979, 1980–2000, since 2003) Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy (2005–2006, since 2008) Minister of State for Regulatory Reform (since 2008) Previous offices held Minister State for Financial Services (2005–2006)	None	Tokyo 1st
Yuriko Koike	(1952-07-15)15 July 1952 (age 56)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1993) Previous offices held Minister of the Environment (2003–2006) Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs (2004–2006) Minister of Defense (2007)	Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai (Machimura)	Tokyo 10th
Nobuteru Ishihara	(1957-04-17)17 April 1957 (age 51)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1990) Previous offices held Minister for Regulatory Reform (2001–2003) Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (2003–2004) Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council (2007)	Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai (Yamasaki)	Tokyo 8th
Shigeru Ishiba	(1957-02-04)4 February 1957 (age 51)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1986) Previous offices held Director-General of the Japan Defense Agency (2002–2004) Minister of Defense (2007–2008)	Heisei Kenkyūkai (Tsushima)	Tottori 1st

Results

Full result
Candidate	Diet members		Prefectural chapters		Total
Candidate	Votes	%	Allocated votes	%	Votes	%
Tarō Asō	217	56.5%	134	95.0%	351	66.8%
Kaoru Yosano	64	16.7%	2	1.4%	66	12.6%
Yuriko Koike	46	11.9%	0	0.0%	46	8.8%
Nobuteru Ishihara	36	9.4%	1	0.8%	37	7.0%
Shigeru Ishiba	21	5.5%	4	2.8%	25	4.8%
Grand Total	384	100.0%	141	100.0%	525	100.0%

2 invalid votes

Past leadership elections

2007 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) presidential election

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References

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[1] "Japanese prime minister resigns - International Herald Tribune". Archived from the original on 2008-09-05. Retrieved 2008-09-01.

[2] BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Japan's Aso 'ready for PM role'

[YS-3] 1 2 "Aso elected LDP head" Archived 2008-09-25 at the Wayback Machine , The Yomiuri Shimbun, 22 September 2008.

[4] AFP: Koike eyes bid as Japan's first woman PM Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine

[5] BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Japanese leadership race hots up

[6] Search - Global Edition - The New York Times

[7] [dead link ]

[8] Ishihara, Yosano voice intentions to stand for LDP presidential election - People's Daily Online

[9] Aso formally announces bid for Japan's ruling party presidency - People's Daily Online

[10] Koike kandidiert für Amt des japanischen Regierungschefs (International, NZZ Online)

[11] "The Times & the Sunday Times". Archived from the original on September 18, 2011.

[12] Official campaigning starts to choose new Japanese leader - People's Daily Online

[13] Japans Expremier Koizumi will eine Frau an der Macht - Politik - dieStandard.at › Politik

[14] Aso zum LDP-Vorsitzenden gewählt - Japan - derStandard.at › International

[15] AFP.com - International News, Photos, Videos, Graphics, World ^{[ permanent dead link ]}

[16] Japan Election May Come by November, LDP Strategist Koga Says - Bloomberg.com

[17] Fünf Kandidaten wollen glücklosen Regierungschef beerben - Japan - derStandard.at › International

[18] Japan to dissolve lower house in October for November election - report - Forbes.com

[19] Japan's LDP Eyes Election as Early as Oct. 26, Yomiuri Says - Bloomberg.com

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v t e Liberal Democratic Party of Japan
Leaders	Hatoyama Ishibashi Kishi Ikeda Satō Tanaka Miki T. Fukuda Ōhira Nishimura Suzuki Nakasone Takeshita Uno Kaifu Miyazawa Kōno Hashimoto Obuchi Mori Koizumi Abe Y. Fukuda Asō Tanigaki Abe Suga Kishida Ishiba
Leadership elections	Apr 1956 Dec 1956 1957 1959 1960 1962 Jul 1964 Nov 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1987 Jun 1989 Aug 1989 1991 1993 1995 1998 1999 2000 [ ja ] 2001 [ ja ] 2003 [ ja ] 2006 2007 2008 2009 2012 2015 2018 2020 2021 2024
Factions	Heisei Kenkyūkai Kōchikai Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai Shikōkai Shisuikai
Preceding parties	Liberal Party Japan Democratic Party
Absorbed parties	Okinawa Liberal Democratic Party [ ja ] (1970) New Liberal Club (1986) New Conservative Party (2003) Party for Japanese Kokoro (2018)
Split parties	New Liberal Club (1976) Japan New Party (1992) Japan Renewal Party (1993) New Party Sakigake (1993) People's New Party (2005) Your Party (2009) Sunrise Party (2010) New Renaissance Party (2010) Japan Restoration Party (2012)
Italics denote acting leader.