TOKYO – Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Saturday he will run in the Oct. 4 presidential election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to choose the replacement for outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

The 44-year-old son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi became the fifth, and likely final, LDP lawmaker to officially announce their candidacy. He is among the favorites to be Japan’s new leader, along with former internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi.

“The LDP is in a crisis,” Koizumi told a press conference, pledging to promote economic measures as his “top priority” and bring about wage growth that outpaces rising living costs.

The LDP leadership contest is set to be held on Oct. 4, after Ishiba, the party’s head, said earlier this month that he would step down to take responsibility for major setbacks in recent national elections. Campaigning will start on Monday.

Koizumi reportedly persuaded Ishiba, who had sought to remain prime minister, to resign. After taking up the current post of agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister in May, Koizumi’s efforts to address surging rice prices put him in the spotlight.

The other candidates in the race are Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, former Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi.