Japan Digital Minister Kono joins ruling party presidential race

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Digital Minister Taro Kono said Monday he will run in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in what will be his third bid to become Japan's prime minister.

The outspoken Kono, 61, is the third person to announce a candidacy for the Sept. 27 leadership race to replace incumbent Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose current three-year term ends next month. Kono lost to Kishida in the election for the party's presidency in 2021.

Kono is a reform-minded ninth-term member of the House of Representatives and is often labeled a political maverick. Educated at Georgetown University in the United States, he has served as foreign and defense minister. He is fluent in English.

In the 2021 LDP election, he was aligned with Shinjiro Koizumi and Shigeru Ishiba. Koizumi and Ishiba, who did not run in the election, are the public's preferred candidates to succeed Kishida, according to opinion polls, but the leader is chosen by LDP members and the party's sitting parliamentarians.

Former defense minister Ishiba, 67, announced his candidacy on Saturday, describing it as his "last" attempt and the culmination of his 38-year political career. The 43-year-old Koizumi, who was once the environment minister, is also expected to join what is becoming a crowded race.

The presidential election will be the first since most of the ruling party's factions decided to disband after they came under intense scrutiny following a slush fund scandal. Kishida has expressed his belief that the LDP should engage in a period of renewal.

Kono belongs to a still-existing faction led by Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, who has refused to dissolve it. One of the lawmakers who backed Kono's leadership bid has said he should leave the