On the evening of July 12, Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council Chairperson Fumio Kishida and General Council Chairperson Wataru Takeshita dined together at a hotel in Tokyo and exchanged views about the party presidential election scheduled for September.

According to a source, Kishida invited Takeshita to dinner, which lasted about two hours. Kishida, one of the candidates for “post-Abe” as the LDP president, has not made clear his stance toward the presidential election. Takeshita has not yet clearly said whether he will support Abe’s third term. The two heavyweights seem to have analyzed situations within the party over the presidential election.