TOKYO -- The campaign to elect the leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will start on Tuesday. Under party rules, the new leader will only serve out the remainder of Abe's three-year term, which runs until late September 2021.
Abe announced his resignation on Aug. 28 after nearly eight years in office. Since the LDP-led coalition holds a majority in both chambers of the Diet, Japan's parliament, and the Diet elects the prime minister, becoming leader of the LDP essentially means being crowned prime minister.
