Tokyo: Lawmakers from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) started voting for a new leader on Saturday, with five candidates competing to become the new party chief and virtually the country's next prime minister.

The contenders are former LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, and former economic security ministers Sanae Takaichi and Takayuki Kobayashi.

All five also ran in last year's election, which saw a record nine candidates.

The first round of the election, triggered by LDP President Shigeru Ishiba's resignation last month, consisted of 590 votes, 295 from LDP lawmakers and 295 allocated proportionally to rank-and-file party members and registered supporters.

A candidate securing an out

See Full Page