With late-night results indicating a landslide victory for the reformist, Mr Junichiro Koizumi, in primary elections for the presidency of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) which finishes today, political commentators in Tokyo were already declaring him the contest winner yesterday.
If the victory is confirmed, Mr Koizumi is likely to replace the current Prime Minister, Mr Yoshio Mori, and become the country's 11th prime minister in 11 years.
Although ballots from local LDP chapter elections around Japan's 47 prefectures are still being counted, the former health and welfare minister had won 123 out of 141 votes by 9 p.m. last night.
His nearest challenger, the former prime minister, Mr Ryutaro Hashimoto, fared dismally, polling less than 10 per cent of the rank-and-file votes.
Early this morning (local time), Mr Shizuka Kamei, the third-placed contender, said he would withdraw, which is likely to further enhance Mr Koizumi's chances of winning.
The primaries account for 141 out of 487 votes that will determine the next leader of the LDP, with the remainder cast by the party's 346 legislators.
Technically, as leader of the party's largest faction Mr Hashimoto could still mount a powerful challenge in today's Diet vote, but the extent of Mr Koizumi's local victory seems to have persuaded many LDP members to jump ship.
The result has stunned political analysts in Tokyo, many of whom were predicting an easy victory for Mr Hashimoto.
If Mr Koizumi does win he faces an uphill battle to persuade his party of the necessity of wrenching radical reform, which includes breaking up the LDP's faction-led structure.
