The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:11 JST, September 28, 2024

Sanae Takaichi, minister in charge of economic security, received the largest number of votes from rank-and-file members of the Liberal Democratic Party among the nine candidates in Friday’s presidential election. However, she was defeated by former LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba in the run off.

It seems that Takaichi’s past efforts of placing importance on regional areas brought about the result.

In the party election, she received 203,802 votes from rank-and-file LDP members nationwide.

Candidates fiercely competed for rank-and-file members’ votes in the election, as most party factions have been dissolved and a record number of candidates were in the race.

In this year’s election, Takaichi gained many more votes compared to the 147,764 she had in the 2021 presidential election.

“I’m very grateful,” Takaichi said, after seeing the total votes she received from rank-and-file members.

The increase in votes is partially due to Takaichi holding meetings nationwide and gathering more support since 2021.

Takaichi was second in terms of bringing in new LDP members among all the party’s Diet members in 2023. In 2022, she came in third.

Takaichi’s personal YouTube channel has more than 360,000 subscribers, and during the campaign period, she often posted videos to gather more support from rank-and-file members.

“If it was in terms of online presence, she would have won,” said an LDP lawmaker who worked on Takaichi’s campaign.

Before, Takaichi was mostly supported by conservatives. In this race, however, she also placed importance on economic issues, saying she plans to do everything she can to help Japan’s economy grow.

It appears as if her economic stance also helped Takaichi gain more support.