JAKARTA – Former Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida has won the election as chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) and is the next prime minister.

In polling time on Wednesday, Kishida won the second round of Vaccination Minister Taro Kono with 257 votes to 170.

Although he received only moderate support, Kishida was supported by a number of party elites. It is not clear whether Kishida’s soft image could cause problems for the LDP in the November 28 general election. However, it focuses on populist issues.

“We will strive to achieve economic growth and wealth distribution,” he said, adding that without wealth distribution there is no way to achieve growth, and quoted Reuters 29.09.

Kishida, who will replace Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is no longer running for election after just a year in office, will almost certainly become Prime Minister in the parliamentary session on Monday, given the majority of the LDP in the lower house.

He is expected to form a new cabinet in early October and reshuffle the LDP executive board. The media reported, citing LDP executives, that the lower house is expected to be dissolved in mid-October with elections on November 7th or 14th.

“Victory for the establishment. Kishida means stability because it doesn’t shake the boat and, above all, it does what the elite technocrats tell it to do,” said Jesper Koll, Expert Director at Monex Group.

Kono, a fluent English speaker with a large following on Twitter who is known to be outspoken, is not considered the first choice of some party elites. Meanwhile, two female PM candidates, Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda, came out after the first round.

Kishida’s victory is unlikely to spark a major policy shift as Japan seeks to fight an assertive China and revive a pandemic-ravaged economy.

Kishida shared a broad consensus on the need to strengthen Japan’s defense, strengthen security ties with the United States and other partners including Japan’s QUAD Group, the United States, Australia and India, while maintaining vital economic ties with China.

In particular, Kishida wants to strengthen the Japanese Coast Guard and support a resolution condemning China’s treatment of the Uyghur ethnic minority. He wants to appoint an adviser to the Prime Minister to monitor the human rights situation.

Additionally, Kishida proposed a spending package of more than 30 trillion yen, adding that Japan is unlikely to raise sales tax rates by 10 percent in about a decade.

He also stressed the need to distribute more wealth among households, in contrast to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s focus on former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” policy of increasing corporate profits in the hope that benefits will improve Benefit wage earners.