Japan’s minister for vaccines and reform, Taro Kono, is way ahead of his rivals for the job as head of the country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) when party members and its elected politicians vote on Wednesday, according to opinion polls. Despite that popularity, analysts believe that quietly agreed pacts and promises between the party’s rival factions will ensure a different outcome. The election of party leader was forced upon the LDP by the recent announcement by deeply unpopular Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that he would not stand for reelection after just a year in the job. Whoever wins the …
