A leadership election was held on 26 September 2012 to elect the next president of the Liberal Democratic Party for a new 3-year term.

2012 Liberal Democratic Party leadership election

26 September 2012

Candidate Shinzo Abe Shigeru Ishiba Nobuteru Ishihara Leader's seat Yamaguchi-4th Tottori-1st Tokyo-8th LDP MPs 54 34 58 Party members 87 165 38 First Round Total 141 199 96 Second Round 108 89 Eliminated   Candidate Nobutaka Machimura Yoshimasa Hayashi Leader's seat Hokkaido-5th Yamaguchi-at-large LDP MPs 27 24 Party members 7 3 First Round Total 34 27 Second Round Eliminated Eliminated

Second round First Round

President before election Sadakazu Tanigaki Elected President Shinzo Abe

Background

The leadership election was held on September 26, 2012, when Sadakazu Tanigaki's term of office expired.Three years after last general election, support for the ruling Democratic Party had been weak, and this election had attracted a lot of attention as it was expected to change power in the upcoming general election.

Candidates

At first, it seemed to be a battle centered on the incumbent Tanigaki who showed strong desire for re-election, but as mentioned earlier, it became a presidential election to elect a leading candidate for "next prime minister," so many lawmakers showed their willingness.It was described as a different aspect from the previous factional elections, and "the decline in the power of factions was highlighted".^[1][2]

Declared

Candidate(s)		Date of birth	Current position	Party faction	Electoral district
Shinzo Abe		(1954-09-21)21 September 1954 (age 58)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1993) Previous offices held Prime Minister (2006–2007) President of the Liberal Democratic Party (2006–2007) Chief Cabinet Secretary (2005-2006)	Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai (Machimura)	Yamaguchi 4th district
Shigeru Ishiba		(1957-02-04)4 February 1957 (age 55)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1986) Previous offices held Minister of Defense (2007–2008) Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (2008–2009) Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council (2009–2011)	None	Tottori 1st district
Nobutaka Machimura		(1944-10-17)17 October 1944 (age 67)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1983) Previous offices held Minister for Foreign Affairs (2004–2005, 2007) Chief Cabinet Secretary (2007–2008)	Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai (Machimura)	Hokkaido 5th district
Nobuteru Ishihara		(1957-04-17)17 April 1957 (age 55)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1990) Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party (since 2010) Previous offices held Minister for Regulatory Reform (2001–2003) Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (2003–2004)	Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai (Yamasaki)	Tokyo 8th district
Yoshimasa Hayashi		(1961-01-19)19 January 1961 (age 51)	Member of the House of Councillors (since 1995) Previous offices held Minister of Defense (2008) Minister State for Economic and Fiscal Policy (2009)	Kōchikai (Koga)	Yamaguchi at-large district

Withdrawn

Candidate(s)		Date of birth	Current positions	Party faction	Electoral District
Sadakazu Tanigaki		(1945-03-07)7 March 1945 (age 67)	President of the Liberal Democratic Party (since 2009) Member of the House of Representatives (since 1983) Other offices Chairperson of the National Public Safety Commission (2002–2003) Minister of Finance (2003–2006) Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (2008)	Kōchikai (Koga)	Kyoto 5th district

Results

Ishiba overtook the other candidates to take first place, but failed to win a majority of the votes and ended up in a runoff vote with Abe, the runner-up. As a result of the runoff vote, Abe reversed Ishiba and was elected.^[3]

References