TOKYO -- Fumio Kishida, a former foreign minister, won a four-way race to lead Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday, setting him up to succeed Yoshihide Suga as prime minister and take the party into a general election this autumn.
The contest went to a runoff after none of the four candidates got a majority in the first round of voting involving the LDP's 382 lawmakers and its 1.1 million rank-and-file members. Kishida, 64, will be formally elected as prime minister in a parliamentary session scheduled to begin on Oct. 4.
