A presidential election was held in the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan on 28 September 2009 after the incumbent party leader and outgoing Prime Minister of Japan Tarō Asō announced that he would resign after losing badly in the general election held on 30 August 2009. Asō announced on 8 September he would resign on 16 September 2009, which he did as planned.
Candidates
In order to run in the election, a candidate must have the support of at least twenty LDP MPs. Since there are 387 LDP Diet members and 141 prefectural LDP representatives (three for each of the 47 prefectural chapters), there is a total of 528 votes.
Former finance minister Sadakazu Tanigaki announced on 13 September 2009 he would stand in the election. Tanigaki had also been a candidate in the 2006 leadership election, where he came in third place behind Shinzō Abe and Tarō Asō. Yasutoshi Nishimura and Taro Kono (son of former LDP leader Yōhei Kōno) are the other two announced candidates.
Agriculture minister Shigeru Ishiba was also considered a possible candidate, but he did not stand.