The 1999 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election took place on 21 September 1999 to elect the leader and president of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Overview The election was held following the expiration of the 1997 LDP presidential election (where Ryutaro Hashimoto was re-elected unopposed). Keizō Obuchi, who had been first elected in the 1998 LDP presidential election, strongly desired unopposed re-election. He particularly sought to appease Koichi Kato, who had recently inherited the Kato faction, by hinting at being his successor. However, Kato ignored his appeal and ran alongside his ally and Taku Yamasaki, chairman of the Yamasaki faction. Kato, already considered a leading candidate for the future presidency, saw this as an ideal opportunity to demonstrate his support for Obuchi. Although he had anticipated losing, he actively promoted a "refreshing policy debate" in the hope of establishing a party-wide coalition following the election.
Obuchi won as expected, but Obuchi never forgave Kato for running against him and severely undermined the Kato faction in his subsequent appointments. This led to the Kato Rebellion the following year. On the other hand, the Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai (Mori faction), whose chairman, Yoshirō Mori, had supported Obuchi as LDP Secretary-General, quickly withdrew from the race and supported Obuchi. Following this, Junichiro Koizumi, who had run in the previous two presidential elections, also withdrew. When Obuchi fell ill the following year, the prime ministerial position fell to Mori, who continued as secretary-general. During the "Kato Rebellion," Koizumi, who supported Mori as faction chairman, suppressed the rebellion and ultimately became prime minister himself in 2001.
As such, this presidential election contained several important foreshadowings of future political developments. It was Shinzo Abe, a young politician with only two election wins at the time, who strongly urged Mori, the faction chairman, to run. Abe later recalled with a wry smile that he was young himself, saying, "If Mori had run against him, as we young people demanded, he might not have become the next prime minister. Kato, who ran at that time, ultimately did not become prime minister".
Candidates Declared Candidate(s) Date of birth Current position Party faction Electoral district Keizō Obuchi Prime MinisterPresident of the Liberal Democratic PartyMember of the House of Representatives Heisei Kenkyūkai Gunma 5th Koichi Kato Member of the House of Representatives Kōchikai Yamagata 4th Taku Yamasaki Member of the House of Representatives Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai Fukuoka 2nd
Results + Full results CandidateDiet membersParty membersTotal pointsVotes%Popular votes%Allocated votes%Total votes% Keizō Obuchi 25368.19%9767.83%350 68.09% Koichi Kato8522.91%2819.58%113 21.99% Taku Yamasaki338.90%1812.59%51 9.92% Total371100.00%143100.00%514100.00%Valid votes371100.00%143100.00%514100.00%Invalid and blank votes00.00%00.00%00.00%Turnout371100.00%1,435,22049.29%143100.00%514100.00%Registered voters371100.00%2,911,519100.00%143100.00%514100.00%
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