Ishiba eyes Kato as finance minister; retaining Hayashi as gov't spokesman;

TOKYO — New ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba, set to soon become Japan's next prime minister, is considering naming former Chief Cabinet Secretary and health minister Katsunobu Kato as finance minister, sources close to the matter said Saturday.

Former Defense Minister Ishiba, the winner of the LDP's presidential race on Friday, also plans to appoint former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi as its election campaign chief, the sources said, as lawmakers brace for the possibility of a general election by the end of this year.

Ishiba, meanwhile, has decided to retain Yoshimasa Hayashi, known as a right-hand man to outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as chief Cabinet secretary and the top government spokesperson. Hayashi previously served as foreign minister.

But economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, who lost in the runoff of the presidential election, declined his offer to become LDP general council chief, the sources said, indicating the difficulties Ishiba faces in achieving postrace party unity.

Kato, a former Finance Ministry bureaucrat, Koizumi and Hayashi were also among the record nine candidates in the leadership race to choose the successor to Kishida, who did not seek reelection following a slush fund scandal that has hit the party.

Ishiba plans to launch the new LDP leadership on Monday. He is expected to become prime minister on Tuesday, as both houses of parliament are controlled by the LDP and its coalition partner, the Komeito party. He will then form a cabinet on Tuesday.

The new president has decided to appoint Hiroshi Moriyama, the head of the LDP's decision-making general council, as its secretary general, the party's No. 2 position, while tapping former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera as its policy chief, the sources said.

In another development, Ishiba, who is believed to have been backed by former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in the runoff, is eager to sound him out about becoming LDP vice president, the sources said.

In his fifth presidential bid, Ishiba, who also served as the party's secretary general, won 215 of the 409 valid votes cast by LDP lawmakers and rank-and-file members in a runoff vote on Friday, while Takaichi secured 194.

Regarding the Cabinet lineup, senior vice finance minister Ryosei Akazawa, a close aide to Ishiba, is set to be given a ministerial post and transport minister Tetsuo Saito, a lawmaker of Komeito, is certain to be retained, the sources said.

Ishiba said at a press conference after he was elected LDP chief, "I will ask each of them (the other leadership candidates) to take the position that suits them best." But Takaichi, who was narrowly defeated by 21 votes in the runoff, said, "I will support" Ishiba "as a member of parliament."

Amid mounting speculation that Ishiba may dissolve the House of Representatives for a snap election in the near future, he apparently accelerated preparations on Saturday by having photos taken for campaign posters.

© KYODO