2006 Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) leadership election

The 2006 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election was held on 20 September 2006 after the incumbent party leader and Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi announced his intention to resign, a year after he led the party to landslide victory in the 2005 snap general election.

Shinzo Abe won the election, (only to resign a year later triggering another leadership election). His chief competitors for the position were Sadakazu Tanigaki and Tarō Asō. Yasuo Fukuda was a leading early contender, but ultimately chose not to run. Former Prime Minister Yoshirō Mori, to whose faction both Abe and Fukuda belonged, stated that the faction strongly leant toward Abe. Abe was subsequently elected Prime Minister with 339 of 475 votes in the National Diet's lower house and a majority in the upper house.