Japan announces time for extraordinary parliamentary session

In a message to senior officials of the ruling and opposition parties in the Diet, Yoshimasa Hayashi announced the specific schedule of the extraordinary session of the Diet. According to the plan, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will vote to elect its party president on September 27.
According to analysts, the winner of the upcoming LDP presidential election will certainly become prime minister because the LDP and the Komeito Party - its partners in the ruling coalition, currently control both houses of Japan.

The new prime minister is scheduled to announce the formation of his cabinet and deliver a policy speech to the Diet after being elected by both the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors. The cabinet of current Prime Minister Kishida, who will step down as LDP president at the end of September, has the power to set the timing of the extraordinary session, but other details, including the length of the session, will be decided by Prime Minister Kishida's successor.

Opposition MPs are demanding to be given enough time to question the new Prime Minister in Parliament, before the House of Representatives is dissolved for early elections.

Under the leadership of its new president, the LDP hopes to restore voter confidence, which was weakened by the slush fund scandal. Meanwhile, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) is expected to intensify its attacks on the LDP, especially after Yoshihiko Noda was reappointed as CDPJ president on September 23. Noda briefly served as prime minister in 2011-2012.

The LDP has ruled Japan almost continuously, holding a majority in parliament for decades. Polls show that there are currently three candidates most likely to succeed Fumio Kishida as LDP leader: Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, 63; former LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba, 67; and Shinjiro Koizumi, 43, the son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.