A leadership election was held in the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan on 28 September 2009 after the incumbent party leader and outgoing Prime Minister of JapanTarō Asō announced that he would resign after losing badly in the general election held on 30 August 2009.[1] Asō announced on 8 September he would resign on 16 September 2009,[2] which he did as planned.[3]
Candidates
Endorsement by at least twenty LDP lawmakers is necessary to become a candidate in the election. 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.