By Kentaro Sugiyama and Makiko Yamazaki
TOKYO (Reuters) -An official of Japan’s ruling party, Shinjiro Koizumi, said on Friday he would call a snap election “at the earliest date possible” if he were to win the ruling party’s leadership election this month.
A former environment minister, Koizumi is seen as a leading contender in the race to pick the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) new leader, who will become next prime minister due to the party’s control in parliament.
Koizumi also said he would “basically carry over” the economic policies of current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration, if he were to become the country’s next leader.
“I’ll aim to beef up the underlying strength of the Japanese economy so that growth can be attained even in an era where inflation and higher interest rates co-exist,” Koizumi said in a news conference announcing his intention to run in the race.
He said that upon becoming prime minister, he would immediately work on a new economic package to aid small firms and low-income households hit by rising living costs.
The LDP is set to elect its new leader on Sept. 27 and by extension the country’s next prime minister.
(Reporting by Kentaro Sugiyama and Makiko Yamazaki; Writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Shri Navaratnam)
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