The 2025 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election was held on 4 October 2025 to elect the next president of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP). The election was triggered by the resignation of Prime Minister of Japan and LDP president Shigeru Ishiba, which was announced on 7 September 2025, amid infighting within the LDP and pressure for a snap election. Ishiba's resignation also came amid the LDP's poor performance in the 2024 Japanese general election and the 2025 Japanese House of Councillors election, which resulted in the party losing its majority in both chambers.
In this election, all five candidates that ran for the LDP leadership previously ran unsuccessful campaigns in the past. Running in the election were: former Minister of State for Economic Security Sanae Takaichi, Agricultural Minister Shinjirō Koizumi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, former Economic Minister Takayuki Kobayashi and former foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi. In the first round of voting, Takaichi came in first place during the first round of voting with 31.07% of the vote. Koizumi came in second with 27.84% of the vote, meaning that both Koizumi and Takaichi advanced to the runoff. In the runoff, Takaichi garnered 54.25% of the vote against Koizumi, resulting in the election of the LDP's first woman president.
Takaichi would become the first woman to serve as prime minister during the National Diet's extraordinary session. On 10 October, five days before the prime minister confirmation vote, Komeito withdrew its participation from the LDP-led coalition and vowed to vote against Takaichi as prime minister. Following this, the vote to confirm Takaichi was delayed until 20 October, and was afterwards again delayed to 21 October. It also resulted in the LDP's national ruling coalition collapsing and the creation of a new political crisis. On 19 October, after negotiations led by Takaichi, the Japan Innovation Party agreed to form a coalition with the LDP. A coalition partnership agreement was signed on 20 October and she became the country's first female prime minister on 21 October. Takaichi subsequently appointed all of her former rivals to her cabinet or to senior positions within the party.
Election procedure The election process for the president of the LDP is established in the "Rules for the Election of President of the Party". In order to officially qualify as a candidate in the election, a candidate must be an LDP member of the National Diet and must receive a nomination from at least 20 fellow LDP Diet members. 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. In the first round, all 295 LDP members of the Diet will cast one vote while party member votes (915,574) are translated proportionally into votes equaling the other half of the total ballots (also 295) to equal 590 total first round votes. If any candidate wins a majority (over 50%, ~296 votes) of votes in the first round, that candidate is elected president. If no candidate reaches that threshold, then an instant runoff is triggered; in this second round, the two candidates who receives the highest vote share advance, and the winner is decided by the 295 Diet members, and the party's 47 prefectural chapters, with each chapter being allotted one vote each, equally a total 342. The winner of the second round becomes the next party president.
915,574 citizens are eligible to vote, with their votes proportionally weighted. According to NHK News, there are two ways to conduct a presidential election, depending on whether or not it includes a party member vote. Party rules stipulate that the election will be contested through a combination of votes from Diet members and "party member votes" from party members across Japan; this was how the 2024 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election was conducted, with over 1.05 million party members voting nationwide. During "particularly urgent cases", such as the president's resignation during his term, Diet members and 3 representatives from each of the 47 prefectural party chapters will vote at a general meeting of both houses of parliament, which replaces the party convention; the last time this occurred was in the 2020 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election, when Yoshihide Suga replaced Shinzo Abe as party president. TBS News reported on 8 September that the presidential election would likely be conducted in the former format, allowing local party members to vote. This was confirmed the following day.
Organization As with the last leadership election, the LDP Presidential Election Commission was chaired by Ichiro Aisawa. The party's public relations headquarters published the official slogan of the election on 19 September: "#ChangeTheLDP". +LDP Presidential Election Management CommitteePositionPortraitMember of the DietChairmanIchiro AisawaDeputy ChairIchiro MiyashitaMembersHideki NiwaMakoto OnikiAyuko KatoHiroo KoderaAyano KunimitsuJunji HasegawaYuhei YamashitaTakashi KoyariSource:
Background Premiership of Shigeru Ishiba and impact of election losses
Shigeru Ishiba won the 2024 LDP leadership election in September 2024, defeating Sanae Takaichi. The win was considered an upset, as Ishiba, generally considered a centrist, defeated Takaichi, a conservative nationalist, in a second round runoff. Ishiba became Prime Minister in October, and immediately called a general election. In the snap election, the LDP, and its coalition partner the Komeito, lost its majority for the first time since 2009, while opposition parties such as the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) and Democratic Party for the People (DPFP) made gains. Two members of Ishiba's cabinet lost their seats, as the government was reduced to a minority status. As no party controlled the House of Representatives, Ishiba was reelected prime minister in the Diet in a runoff vote, after opposition parties failed to coalesce around a single candidate. Ishiba reshuffled his cabinet.
Elections for Japan's Upper House, the House of Councilors, were due in July 2025. Once again, the LDP–Komeito coalition lost its majority, as parties like the CDP and DPFP, as well as the far-right nationalist Sanseitō party, made gains. After both elections, Ishiba invoked a parliamentary plurality in both houses, and believed the LDP had a responsibility to lead the government, as it would in most other parliamentary democracies. Pressure continued to mount on Ishiba to resign as LDP president, but he refused and said he planned to continue serving as prime minister. It was falsely reported on 23 July 2025 that Ishiba would resign in late August, before Ishiba himself debunked the rumors at LDP headquarters that same day. Mid-career and junior members of the LDP, primarily members and former members of the Motegi faction, began collecting signatures to call for the early convening of a joint meeting of the party representing both houses of parliament.
The consecutive election losses impacted the composition of party factions, most of which had officially disbanded after 2024, but still played a crucial role in the LDP's internal politics. 'The Nikkei reported shortly after the Upper House elections that the strength of the Abe faction (a more conservative party faction once led by the late former prime minister Shinzo Abe) has been reduced by almost 40% since October 2024.
Potential candidates emerge
Even before Ishiba announced his resignation, several senior LDP members were floated by the media as possible successors to him as party president, with some members even hinting at the possibility of running. On 18 July 2025, before the Upper House election was even held, Sanae Takaichi said she had “already made up her mind” about running and expressed desire to become LDP president. The day after the election, she met with some of her supporters, as well as former prime minister and party elder Tarō Asō. Takayuki Kobayashi, a fellow staunch conservative and candidate in the previous leadership election, also met with supporters. Kobayashi met with them again in August.
Shinjiro Koizumi, a son of former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and former cabinet minister under Shinzo Abe, was appointed as Agriculture Minister by Ishiba in May 2025. Later in August, after the Upper House elections, he met with former prime minister Fumio Kishida; Koizumi came in third place in the previous presidential race with support from some of Kishida's faction members. Koizumi later met with Tarō Aso that same month. When he was asked if he was considering running earlier in July, Koizumi avoided the question, instead claiming he would primarily focus on rice policy.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, a veteran conservative who had served under numerous prime ministers, stated his intention to continue supporting Ishiba on 22 July, the day of the Upper House election. Due to the government's minority status, Nikkei Asia reported that the next party leader would have to have good connections with the opposition. Sankei Shimbun reported that the expectation was that the next leadership election would be between Koizumi and Takaichi.
Pressure builds and emergency election considered On 6 August, Ishiba ordered an investigation into political party branches over corporate donations, which prompted criticism from within the party. During a joint plenary session on 8 August, the LDP decided that it would determine whether or not to move forward with an "emergency presidential election” based on opinions by lawmakers and prefectural branch chiefs. During the meeting, Ishiba repeated his intention to stay in office. A majority of lawmakers and prefectural branch chiefs (172 at the time) was required to demand a presidential election. A joint meeting of both houses of parliament was held on 8 August, with 253 members in attendance and 35 speaking. At the meeting, it was decided that the LDP Presidential Election Management Committee would consider whether to hold an early presidential election in accordance with Article 6, Paragraph 4 of the LDP rules.
Later on 13 August, Ishiba repeated his intention to continue in office as the LDP began to consider holding an emergency presidential election to force Ishiba to face the party in another leadership vote. The LDP's presidential election management committee began to discuss on the procedures for deciding whether or not to hold a special presidential election on 19 August. The committee announced the following day that they would begin the process once the party's internal review of the Upper House election was completed. Kyodo News reported that the committee would explore the idea of disclosing the names of lawmakers who sign a paper demanding that a special election take place. This was confirmed on 27 August with the deadline to confirm lawmakers intentions being announced as 8 September. NHK reported on 28 August that the party would solidify its decision in September. Deliberations continued within the party as the LDP's General Review Committee compiled its review of the election results.