Who’s in the running to be Japan’s next prime minister?

Japan’s governing party is choosing a new leader in a race analysts say is more unpredictable than usual.

Japan’s governing party will choose a new leader on Friday to replace Fumio Kishida who announced his resignation in August.

The winner of the contest for leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the largest in parliament, will become the country’s next prime minister. Most analysts expect the new leader to call a snap election to secure a mandate from voters.

A record nine candidates have been campaigning and the break-up of the LDP’s usual power structures as a result of a series of corruption scandals have made it harder to predict the outcome.

Many candidates “have claimed that ‘I’m the one who can handle Trump’ or ‘I’m the one who can stand up to China'”, Jeffrey J Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies, told the AFP news agency.

But there are significant differences in their approach to such issues, and although some of the nine have “no hope whatsoever”, the race remains “a toss-up”.

“This is the most unpredictable that an LDP election has been in many years,” Hall said.

The first round of voting starts at 1pm (04:00 GMT) with the eventual winner expected to hold a news conference at about 6pm (09:00 GMT). The contest might also produce Japan’s first woman or youngest-ever prime minister.

Here are some of the more prominent contenders:

A former defence minister, Shigeru Ishiba is popular with the public but has failed four times to secure the post of party leader.

Ishiba’s campaign has focused heavily on security issues, and he has indicated he will push for more oversight over Washington’s use of its bases in Japan, and also for Japan to have a say in how the US might use its