when you look at taro kono, he is the vaccine czar, the former foreign minister.oes the former part of that experience lend itself well given that we know it was the vaccine rollout as well as the handling of the pandemic that ended this current prime minister? >> the fact he took on this sort of poisoned chalice actually gives him some credibility among the japanese public. and within the party. it is a difficult job to take on, this position of vaccine czar given japan was slow to roll out the vaccine in the first place. the public will appreciate he has been open in his communications about the problems japan has experienced. i don't think necessarily that will be a huge hurdle for him. he is currently the favorite candidate among japanese public. ironically, it may have helped raise his profile a difficult time and probably has not really undermined his chances, i don't think. >> the latest polls really showing taro kono in the lead when it comes to the public. nearly 32% of respondents cited taro kono as the favorite, followed by 26.6% for -- and then fumio k

the continuity replacement could be taro kono. also a foreign foreign and astir and an official candidate along with suga was blasted by the finance minister last year as being a good leader for peacetime, but not in troubled times. we are in troubled times in japan. we will see how this plays out. we have not heard from taro aso or shinzo abe. they will likely be the powerbrokers controlling the levers of whom they will back as the successor to suga. tom: i want to tap into your expertise across the region, and get your view on the implications for the broader region, notably japan's relationship with china. but other relationships in the region, the implications of this change. steve: geopolitically, it is important, but right now it is covid and domestic issues that will sway the election. if you look at these candidate, they have different opinions. potential candidates, i might say. you have ishiba, the former defense minister and defense agency head. he is quite the hawk, and considered a military geek. also taro kono, he ha

taro kono is the leading horse, as well as fumio keisha -- kis hida.english speakers, both were foreign ministers. kono was the former defense minister, as well. he is probably the most popular by public opinion and also the business community, and especially the young in japan. he might win the first vote. but if you don't get that clear majority, they will have the runoff, where that might favor kishida, who is more popular among the bigwigs, the party stalwarts in this faction. we are gearing from local media, japanese media reporting that he and the leading female candidate, perhaps they will join forces to try to beat kono. if it goes to a runoff, that might favor them. yvonne: it seems like for the market, though, they don't really care who comes out as the winner here because everything is better or anything is better than before. i'm wondering in terms of monetary and fiscal policy, are we likely to see any changes? >> not likely to see different monetary policy yet. she has branded hers as sunday economics. she would be more of a continuity ca

. -- taro kono. he is widely seen as the most popular candidate for the populace and business community. he has by far the most twitter followers of all the candidates. he is the youngest at 58 years old whereas everyone else is in their 60's. he is an english speaker. he went to georgetown university. he is probably -- probably the most important factor of him is he is part of the faction -- the faction led by the deputy prime minister. that is what this election will come down to. factional fighting, if you will. you have the faction and his pick, and another faction led by the foreign -- the former foreign minister, who is also the first, aside from suga, the first declared candidate. he wants to spend trillions of yen in pandemic relief, in fiscal policy. he wants to keep monetary policy bold, as well, until the pandemic subsides, and then seek a more balanced approach. so they are considered the front runners. shery: we know the handling of the covid pandemic played a key role in prime minister

and compare that to taro kono.e was the public's favorite known as a political maverick who wasn't afraid to speak his mind and tear down bureaucratic barriers to get things done. he is extremely on social media. known to directly converse with the public on twitter where he has more than 2 million followers. ultimately, analysts said that kono's reputation as this outspoken maverick was too much of a risk, and the conservative party elders, party elites preferred the stable and safe choice of kishida. now, when he assumes prime ministership, he's going to have to contend with challenges including the pandemic, boosting japan's stagnant economy, balancing deep economic ties with china and growing concerns around beijing's military assertiveness. but a key issue, isa, is that it is unclear how long kishida can maintain power since before the time of prime minister shinzo abe's leadership, japan had churned through six prime ministers in six years. so the question is, is japan returning to this period of revolving do

following the surprise news today we have had reports other members, including taro kono, one of the members is considering running in the race. if kono runs, he would be a strong candidate given his strong public support shown in opinion polls. however, time and time again japanese politics have shown the results are not based on popularity. there is a lot of political power balancing that needs to happen, and the candidate may not necessarily be the one the public favors. at this point it is hard to tell. anna: just as you were speaking, we got a line quoting japanese television saying kono plans to run to replace the prime minister, suga. we have this confirmation by japanese television that kono plans to run. thank you very much. coming up, the future of russia's banking industry. we will speak to the chairman of russia's vaguest lender. this -- russia's biggest lender. we will talk about the role of sanctions and the ownership structure that they have. all of that, next. this is bloomberg. ♪ anna: welcome back to the european market open. 30 minutes into the european trading day