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2012 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election

← 2009 26 September 2012 2015 →

Candidate Shinzo Abe Shigeru Ishiba Nobuteru Ishihara Leader's seat Yamaguchi 4th Tottori 1st Tokyo 8th First round 141 (28.37%) 199 (40.04%) 96 (19.32%) Runoff vote 108 (54.82%) 89 (45.18%) Eliminated

First round results Second round results

President before election Sadakazu Tanigaki Elected President Shinzo Abe

A presidential election was held on 26 September 2012 to elect the next president of the Liberal Democratic Party for a new 3-year term.

The leadership election was held on September 26, 2012, when Sadakazu Tanigaki's term of office expired.Three years after last general election, support for the ruling Democratic Party had been weak, and this election had attracted a lot of attention as it was expected to change power in the upcoming general election.

At first, it seemed to be a battle centered on the incumbent Tanigaki who showed strong desire for re-election, but as mentioned earlier, it became a presidential election to elect a leading candidate for "next prime minister," so many lawmakers showed their willingness. It was described as a different aspect from the previous factional elections, and "the decline in the power of factions was highlighted".^[1][2]

Candidate(s)		Date of birth	Current position	Party faction	Electoral district
Shinzo Abe		(1954-09-21)21 September 1954 (age 58)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1993) Previous offices held Prime Minister (2006–2007) President of the Liberal Democratic Party (2006–2007) Chief Cabinet Secretary (2005–2006)	Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai (Machimura)	Yamaguchi 4th
Shigeru Ishiba		(1957-02-04)4 February 1957 (age 55)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1986) Previous offices held Minister of Defense (2007–2008) Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (2008–2009) Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council (2009–2011)	None	Tottori 1st
Nobuteru Ishihara		(1957-04-17)17 April 1957 (age 55)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1990) Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party (since 2010) Previous offices held Minister for Regulatory Reform (2001–2003) Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (2003–2004)	Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai (Yamasaki)	Tokyo 8th
Nobutaka Machimura		(1944-10-17)17 October 1944 (age 67)	Member of the House of Representatives (since 1983) Previous offices held Minister for Foreign Affairs (2004–2005, 2007) Chief Cabinet Secretary (2007–2008)	Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai (Machimura)	Hokkaido 5th
Yoshimasa Hayashi		(1961-01-19)19 January 1961 (age 51)	Member of the House of Councillors (since 1995) Previous offices held Minister of Defense (2008) Minister State for Economic and Fiscal Policy (2009)	Kōchikai (Koga)	Yamaguchi at-large

Candidate(s)		Date of birth	Current positions	Party faction	Electoral District
Sadakazu Tanigaki		(1945-03-07)7 March 1945 (age 67)	President of the Liberal Democratic Party (since 2009) Member of the House of Representatives (since 1983) Other offices Chairperson of the National Public Safety Commission (2002–2003) Minister of Finance (2003–2006) Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (2008)	Kōchikai (Koga)	Kyoto 5th

Ishiba overtook the other candidates to take first place, but failed to win a majority of the votes and ended up in a runoff vote with Abe, the runner-up. As a result of the runoff vote, Abe reversed Ishiba and was elected.^[3]