Japan's ruling party starts a crucial election that will choose the new prime minister

TOKYO (AP) — A crucial party election in Japan on Friday will determine the nation's new prime minister.

The vote by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party technically chooses a new party leader, but the winner is assured to be elected as prime minister in parliamentary vote next week because the party's ruling coalition controls both houses.

The current p rime minister, Fumio Kishida , has been dogged by corruption scandals, and his party is looking for a fresh leader in hopes of regaining public trust before a looming next general election.

A record nine lawmakers , including two women, are vying for the job.

The vote is limited to LDP members of parliament and about 1 million dues-paying party members. That's only 1% of eligible voters.

Backroom dealing among party heavyweights makes this election hard to predict.

Early vote results by NHK television showed Shigeru Ishiba, a former defense minister, who has steadily ranked No. 1 in media surveys, Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, an Abe protege and staunch conservative who ran against Kishida in 2021, and former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of a former popular prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, came in top three.

Experts say two of the three are expected to advance to a runoff.

Past votes were often determined by the party’s powerful faction leaders, but that may change this time because all but one of the six factions has announced their dissolution following the corruption scandals .

There's widespread worry among experts that the removal of faction support from whoever wins could mean Japan will return to an era similar to the early 2000s, which saw “revolving door” leadership changes and political instability.

A succession of short-lived governments hurts Japanese prime ministers' ability to set up long-term policy goals or develop trusted relations with other leaders.

Takaichi and Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa are the only women in the race. Takaichi is ahead of Kamikawa in the vote and would become Japan’s first female leader if she wins.

Women make up only 10.3% of Japan’s lower house of parliament. That makes the country 163rd for female representation among 190 countries examined in an April report by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union.

On Tuesday, Kishida and his Cabinet ministers will resign. The new leader, after being formally elected in a parliamentary vote, will then form a new Cabinet later in the day.

The main opposition — the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan — has struggled to build momentum, despite the LDP scandals. But experts say its newly elected leader, centrist former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, is pushing a conservative shift for the party, could trigger a broader political regroupings.

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