Reuters reports that former Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida officially announced on Tuesday that he would run for a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) election to choose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s successor.

Abe said on Friday he was resigning because of poor health, his long-running battle with ulcerative colitis ending his tenure as Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.

The president of the LDP is virtually assured of being prime minister because of the party’s majority in parliament’s lower house.