Photo/Illutration Ken Saito at a news conference on Aug. 15 (Aki Fukuyama)

Economy minister Ken Saito indicated his desire to run in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election to succeed lame-duck Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

“From yesterday to this morning, I received many messages saying, ‘Run for president,’ or ‘You are the only one,’” Saito, 65, said at a news conference on Aug. 15. “I have to listen to those voices seriously.”

He said the presidential election will be “a fork in the road” for the party’s future.

“Will (people) think the LDP is likely to change, or will they think the LDP will remain the same?” Saito said. “Each one of us (in the party) has to answer the question of who we want as LDP president, not by being told to do so by others, but by making up our minds and deciding with our hearts.

“For the party to change, the presidential election must change.”

Saito, who does not belong to any LDP faction, has been elected to the Lower House five times and served as agriculture minister and justice minister.

His name has been pushed in previous LDP elections, but he decided not to run, saying it “is not something on my mind.”

Saito was once a member of the faction led by Shigeru Ishiba, 67, the former LDP secretary-general who has expressed his desire to run for the party presidency.

Saito was first elected to the Diet in the same year as Shinjiro Koizumi, 43, the former environment minister.

Both Ishiba and Koizumi are always mentioned as candidates for future prime minister.

“If Saito runs, the votes for Ishiba and Koizumi will be split,” a Cabinet member said.

Kishida, 67, on Aug. 14 announced his decision not to seek re-election in the LDP contest in September.

The following day, he told his Cabinet members, “If you are thinking of putting your name forward for the presidential election, please do not hesitate to do so and debate the issues openly to the extent that it does not interfere with your duties as a Cabinet member.”

But many of the expected ‘post-Kishida’ candidates were noncommittal.

Taro Kono, 61, the digital transformation minister, said at a news conference, “I hope that one day I will be able to make use of my experience.”

But he declined to say whether he would run for LDP president.

Sanae Takaichi, 63, state minister for economic security, told reporters, “I will not discuss the presidential election at a Cabinet Office news conference.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, 63, said at his news conference, “I will refrain from answering in my capacity as chief Cabinet secretary.”

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, 71, told reporters, “I am prepared to make a decision after careful consideration of what to do, and then act on that decision.”

Some young and middle-ranking LDP politicians have called on Takayuki Kobayashi, 49, former minister in charge of economic security, to run for the LDP leadership.

After visiting Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15, Kobayashi told reporters, “Right now, I am just trying to improve my strength as a politician.”

Koizumi also visited the shrine that day. He did not respond to reporters’ questions.

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