2008 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election

2008 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election
22 September 2008
 
Candidate Tarō Asō Kaoru Yosano Yuriko Koike
Leader's seat Fukuoka 8th Tokyo 1st Tokyo 10th
LDP MPs 217 (56.51%) 64 (16.67%) 46 (11.98%)
Party members 134 (95.03%) 2 (1.42%) 0 (0.00%)
Total 351 (66.86%) 66 (12.57%) 46 (8.76%)
 
Candidate Nobuteru Ishihara Shigeru Ishiba
Leader's seat Tokyo 8th Tottori 1st
LDP MPs 36 (9.37%) 21 (5.47%)
Party members 1 (0.71%) 4 (2.84%)
Total 37 (7.05%) 25 (4.76%)
President before election

Yasuo Fukuda

 Elected President

Tarō Asō

Headquarters of Liberal Democratic Party, at 22 September 2008.

The 2008 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election was held on 22 September 2008 after the incumbent party leader and Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda announced that he would resign on 1 September 2008, only 11 months after taking office on 25 September 2007 following a leadership election on 23 September 2007. Tarō Asō, who had lost to Shinzo Abe in the 2006 leadership election and then again lost to Fukuda in 2007, was widely seen as the frontrunner to replace him,[1] and announced on 2 September 2008 he was ready to take over as party leader.[2] Aso won the leadership election against four opponents, receiving 67% of the vote.[3]

It was reported that Yuriko Koike, a former defence chief who is seen as close to former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, might stand against Aso; in that case, the LDP leadership election would be a decision between the conservative traditionalist Aso and the unorthodox reformist Koike.[4] Economics minister Kaoru Yosano and former transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara, the son of the controversial right-wing nationalist governor of Tokyo Shintarō Ishihara, also indicated they might run,[5] as did former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, senior vice foreign minister Ichita Yamamoto and former science and economic minister Yasufumi Tanahashi.[6] Campaigning began on 10 September 2008;[7] a total of 528 people are eligible to vote (387 Diet members and 141 prefectural representatives).[8]

To stand in the election, candidates had to gather twenty signatures from electors. Aso formally declared his candidacy on 5 September 2008,[9] and Koike on 8 September 2008.[10] Yosano, Ishiba and Ishihara also filed to run, while Yamamoto and Tanahashi decided not to stand for the leadership.[11][12] Koizumi announced he would support and vote for Koike.[13]

By election day, Aso had secured the votes of at least 60% of the electors and was assumed to win the election in the first round.[14]

Aso went on to win the election by a landslide 351 votes. Yosano got 66 votes, Koike 46, Ishihara 37 and Ishiba 25.[3][15] Aso was sworn in as Prime Minister on 24 September 2008. Some speculated that a general election would be called on 3 October for 26 October 2008 following the leadership election, but this failed to materialise.[16][17][18][19]

Candidates

Declared

Candidate(s) Date of birth Current position Party faction Electoral district
Tarō Asō		 20 September 1940
(age 68)		 Member of the House of Representatives
(1979–1983, since 1986)
Previous offices held
 Ikōkai
(Asō)
Fukuoka 8th
Kaoru Yosano		 22 August 1938
(age 70)		 Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy
(2005–2006, since 2008)
Minister of State for Regulatory Reform
(since 2008)
Member of the House of Representatives
(1976–1979, 1980–2000, since 2003)
Previous offices held
  • Minister State for Financial Services
    (2005–2006)
 None
Tokyo 1st
Yuriko Koike		 15 July 1952
(age 56)		 Member of the House of Representatives
(since 1993)
Previous offices held
 Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai
(Machimura)
Tokyo 10th
Nobuteru Ishihara		 17 April 1957
(age 51)		 Member of the House of Representatives
(since 1990)
Previous offices held
 Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai
(Yamasaki)
Tokyo 8th
Shigeru Ishiba		 4 February 1957
(age 51)		 Member of the House of Representatives
(since 1986)
Previous offices held
 Heisei Kenkyūkai
(Tsushima)
Tottori 1st

Supporters

Recommenders

Party regulations require candidates to have the written support at least 20 Diet members, known as recommenders, to run.

Tarō Asō[20]
Leader of recommenders
Campaign Manager
Recommenders
Kaoru Yosano[20]
Leader of recommenders
Campaign Manager
Recommenders
Yuriko Koike[20]
Leader of recommenders
Campaign Manager
Recommenders
Nobuteru Ishihara[20]
Leader of recommenders
Campaign Manager
  • Kisaburo Tokai (Member of the House of Representatives for Hyōgo 10th district) (Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai)
Recommenders
Shigeru Ishiba[20]
Leader of recommenders
Campaign Manager
Recommenders
Number of recommenders by factions
Candidates Tarō Asō Kaoru Yosano Yuriko Koike Nobuteru Ishihara Shigeru Ishiba
Atarashii Nami 1 0 1 0 0
Banchō Seisaku Kenkyūjo 1 1 0 0 0
Heisei Kenkyūkai 2 4 0 0 19
Ikōkai 2 0 0 0 0
Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai 3 1 1 6 0
Kōchikai 2 6 2 4 0
Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai 4 2 11 4 0
Shisuikai 2 1 0 1 0
No faction 3 5 5 5 1

Results

Full result
Candidate Diet members Party members Total points
Votes % Popular votes % Allocated votes % Votes %
Tarō Asō 当 21756.51% 13495.03% 351
66.86%
Kaoru Yosano 6416.67% 21.42% 66
12.57%
Yuriko Koike 4611.98% 00.00% 46
8.76%
Nobuteru Ishihara 369.37% 10.71% 37
7.05%
Shigeru Ishiba 215.47% 42.84% 25
4.76%
Total 384 100.00% 141 100.00% 525 100.00%
Valid votes 384 99.48% 141 100.00% 525 99.62%
Invalid and blank votes 2 0.52% 0 0.00% 2 0.38%
Turnout 386 100.00% 141 100.00% 527 100.00%
Registered voters 386 100.00% 141 100.00% 527 100.00%

Results of Party Members' Votes by Prefectures

Results of Party Members' Votes by Prefectures[21]
Prefectures Tarō Asō Shigeru Ishiba Kaoru Yosano Nobuteru Ishihara Yuriko Koike
Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %
Aichi 3 0 0 0 0
Akita 3 0 0 0 0
Aomori[22] 4,915 75.95 3 260 4.02 0 232 3.59 0 514 7.94 0 550 8.50 0
Chiba[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Ehime 3 0 0 0 0
Fukui 3 0 0 0 0
Fukuoka[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Fukushima 3 0 0 0 0
Gifu[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Gunma[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Hiroshima 3 0 0 0 0
Hokkaido 3 0 0 0 0
Hyōgo 3 0 0 0 0
Ibaraki[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Ishikawa 3 0 0 0 0
Iwate[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Kagawa 3 0 0 0 0
Kagoshima 3 0 0 0 0
Kanagawa[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Kōchi 2 0 1 0 0
Kumamoto 3 0 0 0 0
Kyoto 3 0 0 0 0
Mie 3 0 0 0 0
Miyagi 3 0 0 0 0
Miyazaki[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Nagano[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Nagasaki 3 0 0 0 0
Nara 2 0 0 1 0
Niigata[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Ōita[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Okayama 3 0 0 0 0
Okinawa 3 0 0 0 0
Osaka 3 0 0 0 0
Saga 3 0 0 0 0
Saitama[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Shiga 3 0 0 0 0
Shimane 2 1 0 0 0
Shizuoka 3 0 0 0 0
Tochigi 3 0 0 0 0
Tokushima 2 0 1 0 0
Tokyo[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Tottori[a] 0 3 0 0 0
Toyama 3 0 0 0 0
Wakayama[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Yamagata 3 0 0 0 0
Yamaguchi[a] 3 0 0 0 0
Yamanashi 3 0 0 0 0
Total 134 4 2 1 0
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Winner take all delegates.

References

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  1. ↑ "Japanese prime minister resigns - International Herald Tribune". Archived from the original on 2008-09-05. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
  2. ↑ BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Japan's Aso 'ready for PM role'
  3. 1 2 "Aso elected LDP head" Archived 2008-09-25 at the Wayback Machine, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 22 September 2008.
  4. ↑ AFP: Koike eyes bid as Japan's first woman PM Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Japanese leadership race hots up
  6. ↑ Search - Global Edition - The New York Times
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ Ishihara, Yosano voice intentions to stand for LDP presidential election - People's Daily Online
  9. ↑ Aso formally announces bid for Japan's ruling party presidency - People's Daily Online
  10. ↑ Koike kandidiert für Amt des japanischen Regierungschefs (International, NZZ Online)
  11. ↑ "The Times & the Sunday Times". Archived from the original on September 18, 2011.
  12. ↑ Official campaigning starts to choose new Japanese leader - People's Daily Online
  13. ↑ Japans Expremier Koizumi will eine Frau an der Macht - Politik - dieStandard.at › Politik
  14. ↑ Aso zum LDP-Vorsitzenden gewählt - Japan - derStandard.at › International
  15. ↑ AFP.com - International News, Photos, Videos, Graphics, World
  16. ↑ Japan Election May Come by November, LDP Strategist Koga Says - Bloomberg.com
  17. ↑ Fünf Kandidaten wollen glücklosen Regierungschef beerben - Japan - derStandard.at › International
  18. ↑ Japan to dissolve lower house in October for November election - report - Forbes.com
  19. ↑ Japan's LDP Eyes Election as Early as Oct. 26, Yomiuri Says - Bloomberg.com
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 政治情報ノート　自民党総裁選 [Political Information Notebook: LDP Presidential Election] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  21. ↑ 松本潤 - 自民党総裁選挙2008アーカイブ [Jun Matsumoto - LDP Presidential Election 2008 Archive] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  22. ↑ 2008年自由民主党総裁選挙における青森県の結果について [Regarding the results for Aomori Prefecture in the 2008 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election]. Internet Archive (in Japanese). 2025-10-28. Retrieved 2026-07-10.
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