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Japan's ruling LDP to start leadership race, Abe odds-on to be re-elected

Xinhua, August 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) announced Friday that it will start its leadership campaign on Sept. 8 with its presidential election to be held on Sept. 20.

The LDP's election committee agreed on Friday that the race -- albeit a one-horse one -- will commence from Sept. 8, with the party's parliamentarians duly casting their ballots on Sept. 20, with the tallying of votes from lawmakers and other party members slated to take place on the same day.

However both the leadership race and election are a mere formality and current LDP President and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, despite slumping public support rates following his unpopular ramming of war-related legislation through parliament and some dissension from within his own party, will almost certainly be re- elected as no other candidates have emerged to challenge him.

The election race is being held as Abe's three-year term as the LDP's president will end on Sept. 30, and the committee on Friday confirmed that if no other rivals for the presidency step forward, Abe's re-election will be formally announced at the beginning of October. Endi