Following the abrupt resignation of Japan PM Shinzo Abe, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will vote on Monday to find his replacement. The LDP election will be followed by a vote in parliament to endorse the Liberal Democratic Party’s new leader.

While a party must announce the election for its leader a month in advance, the sudden resignation of Abe led to a vote “at the soonest date possible” with participants narrowed to MPs and representatives of the party’s local chapters.

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Here are the three leading candidates expected to face off in the poll:

Yoshihide Suga

Having served as the chief cabinet secretary since 2012, and often called the ‘right-hand of Abe’, Yoshihide Suga is heavily favoured to win the ruling party’s leadership race. He has garnered the support of most of the ruling LDP’s factions.

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Suga, 71, a farmer’s son with a reputation for inscrutability, is a key government adviser, spokesman and policy enforcer. He announced the decision to join the race “after some deep thought on what I can do as a politician and a member of Abe’s administration.”

Regarded as a self-made politician in the largely hereditary Japanese political sphere, he was elected to parliament in 1994.

Shigeru Ishiba

A populist leader, Shigeru Ishiba is considered as a strong contender for the post of PM. However, he doesn’t enjoy support within the party. Ishiba, a military expert has served as the defence minister from 2007 to 2008 under Yasuo Fukuda.

A staunch critic of Abe, Ishiba challenged his leadership in the 2018 elections when he was handily defeated. He belongs to a political family and was elected to parliament at the age of 29.

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Though the 63-year-old former banker has a long political career, he struggles with his outsider status within the LDP. In 1993, he had left the party, becoming an independent and then briefly joining another party before returning to the fold — a political dalliance many in the LDP have not forgiven.

Fumio Kishida

Widely seen as the preferred successor of Abe, Fumio Kishida has so far failed to win the voters. The soft-spoken 63-year-old is currently the policy chief of LDP and leads a major faction within the party.

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Though a loyal minister, Kishida had criticised the policies of Abe and had said that he intends to address the economic and social divisions that had widened under the PM. He is a scion of a political family from Hiroshima.

So far Abe has not endorsed any of the contenders and has entrusted the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to choose the next prime minister.