Japan's governing party is choosing a new leader Saturday to succeed Ishiba

Japan's long-governing Liberal Democratic Party will choose a new leader Saturday to replace Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, but the winner must quickly restore political stability and regain public support for the struggling party to stay in power.

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Three of the five candidates in Saturday's intraparty vote are seen as the favorites. They include a woman who could become Japan's first female prime minister, the son of a former prime minister and a veteran moderate.

The winner must act quickly to address rising prices if the party is to have any chance of winning back support after election losses to the LDP and its junior partner Komeito in the past year cost their coalition a majority in both houses of parliament.

The new party president is still likely to become prime minister because the LDP still has the most seats in the lower house, which chooses the prime minister, and opposition groups are splintered.

The winner will immediately face a big test - hosting a possible summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. A meeting is reported to be in the works as Trump travels to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea that starts Oct. 31.