The is the highest-ranking officer within the Japanese conservative party, the Liberal Democratic Party. Due to the dominance of the LDP in Japanese politics, all except two ( Yohei Kono and

Sadakazu Tanigaki is a Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1983 to 2016, as Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006, as President of the Liberal Democratic Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2009 to 2012, as Minist ...

) have also been the

prime minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan (Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Stat ...

Elections

To be a candidate for the president, one must be a LDP member of the

National Diet The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors (, ...

and must receive at least 20 nominations from other LDP members of the National Diet. The LDP selects its leader via a two-round election involving both LDP members of the Diet and dues-paying party members from across Japan. In the first round, all LDP members of the Diet cast one vote while party member votes are translated proportionally into votes equaling the other half of the total ballots. If any candidate wins a

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster If no candidate receives a majority of votes in the first round, a runoff is held immediately between the top two candidates. In the runoff, all Diet members vote again while the 47 prefectural chapters of the LDP get one vote each, with the result of the latter votes determined using the first round results of party members in each prefecture. The candidate who wins the most votes in the runoff is then elected President. The party's secretary general can decide to organise the election with the rule of the second round only.

List

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Kakuei Tanaka was a Japanese politician who served in the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives from 1947 Japanese general election, 1947 to 1990 Japanese general election, 1990, and was Prime Minister of Japan from 1972 to 1974. After ...

, Rep for Niigata 3rd , 5 July 1972 , 4 December 1974 , align="left" , , Kakuei_Tanaka_19720707

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Takeo Miki was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1974 until 1976. Early life and family Takeo Miki was born on 17 March 1907, in Gosho, Tokushima Prefecture (present-day Awa, Tokushima), the only child of farmer-merchant H ...

, Rep for Tokushima At-large , 4 December 1974 , 23 December 1976 , align="left" , Takeo_Miki_19741209

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Takeo Fukuda was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1976 to 1978. Early life and education Fukuda was born in Gunma, capital of the Gunma Prefecture on 14 January 1905. He hailed from a former samurai family and his father was mayor ...

, Rep for Gunma 3rd , 23 December 1976 , 1 December 1978 , align="left" , Takeo_Fukuda_19761224

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Masayoshi Ōhira was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1978 to 1980. Ōhira's time in office was cut short when he died in office; he remains the most recent Japanese Prime Minister to die in office. Early life Masayoshi Ōhira was bo ...

, Rep for Kagawa 2nd , 1 December 1978 , 12 June 1980 , align="left" , , Masayoshi_Ohira_19781207

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Eiichi Nishimura was a Japanese politician, who served in the Ikeda, Satō, Tanaka and Fukuda cabinets, and was the first to be appointed to the post of Director of the National Land Agency. Within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), he held influence in the ...

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Ito Ito may refer to: Places * Ito Island, an island of Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea * Ito Airport, an airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Ito District, Wakayama, a district located in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan * Itō, Shizuo ...

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Zenkō Suzuki was a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1980 to 1982. He was the last prime minister to have been born in the Meiji era. Early life and education Suzuki was born on 11 January 1911, Yamada, Iwate Prefecture, the eldest ...

, Rep for Iwate 1st , 15 July 1980 , 25 November 1982 , align="left" , Zenko_Suzuki_19800717

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Yasuhiro Nakasone was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party from 1982 to 1987. He was a member of the House of Representatives for more than 50 years. He was best known for pushing through the ...

, Rep for Gunma 3rd , 25 November 1982 , 31 October 1987 , align="left" , , Yasuhiro_Nakasone_19821127

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Noboru Takeshita was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1987 to 1989 during the bubble economy. Takeshita led the largest faction at the time in the Liberal Democratic Party, which he inherited from Kakuei Tanaka, from the 1980s u ...

, Rep for Shimane At-large , 31 October 1987 , 2 June 1989 , align="left" , Noboru_Takeshita_19871106

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Sōsuke Uno was a Japanese politician who was briefly Prime Minister of Japan in 1989, the first Prime Minister who came from Shiga Prefecture. A scandal exposed by the geisha Mitsuko Nakanishi contributed to his premature resignation from office after just ...

, Rep for Shiga At-large , 2 June 1989 , 8 August 1989 , align="left" , Sosuke_Uno_19890603

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Toshiki Kaifu was a Japanese politician who served as the 77th Prime Minister of Japan from 1989 to 1991. Early life and education Kaifu was born on 2 January 1931, in Nagoya City, the eldest of six brothers. His family's business Nakamura Photo Studio wa ...

, Rep for Aichi 3rd , 8 August 1989 , 30 October 1991 , align="left" , , Toshiki_Kaifu_19890810

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Kiichi Miyazawa was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1991 to 1993. He was a member of the National Diet of Japan for over 50 years. Early life and education Miyazawa was born into a wealthy, politically active family in Fukuyama ...

, Rep for Hiroshima 3rd , 31 October 1991 , 29 July 1993 , align="left" , , Kiichi_Miyazawa_cropped_1_Kiichi_Miyazawa_19911105

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Yōhei Kōno is a Japanese politician and a former President of the Liberal Democratic Party. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from November 2003 until August 2009, when the LDP lost its majority in the 2009 election. Kōno served as sp ...

, rowspan="3" , Rep for Kanagawa 5th , rowspan="3" , 29 July 1993 , rowspan="3" , 1 October 1995 , rowspan="3" align="left" , , rowspan="3" , Yōhei_Kōno

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Ryutaro Hashimoto was a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1996 to 1998. He was the leader of one of the largest factions within the ruling LDP through most of the 1990s and remained a powerful back-room player in Japanese politic ...

, rowspan="2" , Rep for Okayama 4th , rowspan="2" , 1 October 1995 , rowspan="2" , 24 July 1998 , rowspan="2" align="left" , , rowspan="2" , Ryutaro_Hashimoto_19960111

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Keizō Obuchi was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1998 to 2000. Obuchi was elected to the House of Representatives in Gunma Prefecture in 1963, becoming the youngest legislator in Japanese history, and was re-elected to his ...

, Rep for Gunma 5th , 24 July 1998 , 5 April 2000 , align="left" , , Keizo_Obuchi_19980730

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Yoshirō Mori is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan between April 2000 and April 2001. He was unpopular in opinion polls during his time in office, and is known for making controversial statements, both during and after his ...

, Rep for Ishikawa 2nd , 5 April 2000 , 24 April 2001 , align="left" , Yoshiro_Mori_20000405

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Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi (; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a former Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2009. He is ...

, Rep for Kanagawa 11th , 24 April 2001 , 20 September 2006 , align="left" , , Junichiro_Koizumi_20010426

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Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...

, Rep for Yamaguchi 4th , 20 September 2006 , 26 September 2007 , align="left" , , Shinzō_Abe_20060926

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Yasuo Fukuda is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving in that role from 2000 to 2004 under Prime Ministers Yoshirō M ...

, Rep for Gunma 4th , 26 September 2007 , 22 September 2008 , align="left" , , Yasuo_Fukuda_200709

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Tarō Asō is a Japanese politician serving as the Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. Asō previously served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009 and as Deputy Prime Minister of Japan and Minister of Finance from 2 ...

, Rep for Fukuoka 8th , 22 September 2008 , 16 September 2009 Acting: 16 September2009 – 28 September2009 , align="left" , , Tarō Asō 20100714

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, rowspan="3" , Rep for Kyoto 5th , rowspan="3" , 28 September 2009 , rowspan="3" , 26 September 2012 , rowspan="3" align="left" , , rowspan="3" , Tanigaki_Sadakazu_1-1

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Noda NoDa (short for "North Davidson") is a popular arts district in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is located in the North Charlotte neighborhood on and around North Davidson Street and 36th Street, approximately one mile northeast of Up ...

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, rowspan="2" , Rep for Yamaguchi 4th , rowspan="2" , 26 September 2012 , rowspan="2" , 14 September 2020 , rowspan="2" align="left" , , rowspan="2" , Shinzō_Abe_Official

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Yoshihide Suga is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2020 to 2021. He had served as Chief Cabinet Secretary during the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fro ...

, Rep for Kanagawa 2nd , 14 September 2020 , 29 September 2021 , align="left" , , Yoshihide_Suga_20200916

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Fumio Kishida is a Japanese politician serving as Prime Minister of Japan and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. A member of the House of Representatives, he previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2017 and ...

, Rep for Hiroshima 1st , 29 September 2021 , Incumbent , align="left" , , Fumio_Kishida_20211004

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Reference

{{Liberal Democratic Party of Japan Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) Liberal Democratic Party