The two frontrunners in the race to head the ruling party have shunned the government¡¯s push for more people to invest in the nation¡¯s stock market.

Neither agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi nor right-leaning lawmaker Sanae Takaichi, the top polling candidates for leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party, hold investments in equity or any other securities, according to their offices. The winner of the contest on Saturday will almost certainly be chosen as Japan¡¯s next prime minister to replace Shigeru Ishiba.

The government has encouraged stock ownership through tax-free Nippon Individual Savings Accounts as a way to steer savings into higher-return investments against a backdrop of rising inflation. The absence of stock holdings by the candidates bucks against this trend of rising stock ownership among Japanese, whose holdings have risen to the highest since the 1990s.

¡°As the government is promoting a shift from savings to investment, if politicians don¡¯t have NISA accounts, their seriousness will be questioned,¡± said Koichi Kurose, chief strategist at Resona Asset Management.

Only two of the five candidates ¡ª Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi and former policy chief Toshimitsu Motegi ¡ª own stock, compared with five out of nine candidates who held stocks at the time of the previous election in September 2024.

Hayashi maintains stakes in four companies including Mitsui, backed by Warren Buffett¡¯s Berkshire Hathaway, and Tokyo Electric Power.

Motegi holds shares in eBASE. The remaining candidate, former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, owns no stock, according to his latest filings as of end-2024.

Kobayashi¡¯s office didn¡¯t respond to a request for comment, while representatives for Hayashi and Motegi declined to go beyond the filings.

¡°Markets such as stocks and bonds are the thermometers of the economy,¡± said Tetsuro Ii, chief executive of Commons Asset Management. ¡°It¡¯s better to hold them to get a better feel for how policies impact the economy.¡±