ISTANBUL

Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on Wednesday announced her bid to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Kamikawa, 71, said she will be running for leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) after Kishida announced he was stepping down later this month.

“Never running away from any hardships, I will build a new Japan,” the seventh-term lawmaker told a news conference in the capital Tokyo, according to Kyodo News.

If elected, Kamikawa would be Japan’s first female prime minister.

She was appointed foreign minister last year in September, becoming the first woman in Japan to hold the office in at least two decades.

She is among nine candidates who have so far announced to compete in intra-party elections on Sept. 27.

A candidate requires the backing of at least 20 LDP lawmakers to stand for the party’s presidential elections.

The two-week campaigning for the upcoming LDP elections will commence on Thursday.

This came amid a political funds scandal that rocked the ruling party last year triggering Kishida to take responsibility for it.

Kamikawa is the second woman candidate who has announced her bid.

Sanae Takaichi, 63, who is serving as economic security minister in Kishida’s Cabinet, has also announced her bid to succeed the incumbent prime minister.