Former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and former Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Edano are leading the party’s leadership election, according to a survey conducted by Yomiuri Shimbun. The survey, which included 136 CDPJ Diet members, showed that Noda has slightly less than 30% support from the members, followed by Edano at 60 years old. However, observers believe that Edano may have an advantage in the election as local assembly members and other party members will also cast their votes. The race between the two candidates is expected to be close.
Current party leader Kenta Izumi and House of Representatives member Harumi Yoshida do not have much support among the Diet members. The leadership election is contested on 740 points, with votes from Diet members accounting for about one-third of the total points. It is possible that a runoff will be held between the top two candidates since none of them are likely to secure a majority in the first round of voting.
The survey asked CDPJ Diet members about their preferred candidate and each person’s vote counted for two points. As of Friday, Noda was leading with support from 35 lawmakers (70 points), followed by Edano with support from 24 lawmakers (48 points). Izumi had support from 17 Diet members (34 points), while Yoshida secured support from only 15 members (30 points). Both Izumi and Yoshida failed to gather enough supporters to become candidates.
About 30% of CDPJ Diet members were undecided, which could significantly impact the outcome of the race. Supporters cited various reasons for backing their preferred candidate: Noda’s supporters mentioned his ability to win public trust and his leadership skills, while Edano’s supporters highlighted his highly-rated policies.
In an opinion poll conducted by Yomiuri Shimbun in August, Noda emerged as the frontrunner with 25% respondents considering him best suited to lead CDPJ. Expectations for Noda’s leadership are high among party members. On the other hand, Edano is favored by local assembly members.
Apart from voting points allocated to Diet members, all expected CDPJ candidates running in either house will receive one point each in this election. Additionally, local assembly members and party/supporting member votes will also contribute towards allotting voting points.
Noda has secured support from various intra-party groups like Kasei-kai and Issei-kai led by Ichiro Ozawa; however many remain critical due to his decision during his time as prime minister when he dissolved lower house resulting in his party losing power.
Edano has garnered significant backing from Sanctuary – a left-leaning intra-party group; however some question if it is too soon for him to return as party leader after suffering defeat during last year’s lower house election when he was at helm.
