Asia-Pacific

Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba licks wounds after snap election gamble backfires

Counting on Sunday night showed opposition parties, led by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan(CDPJ), making strong gains

Japan's prime minister Shigeru Ishiba waves after addressing the media at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo, following his party's disappointing results in the country's general election. Photograph: Takashi Aoyama/AFP/Getty Images
Japan's prime minister Shigeru Ishiba waves after addressing the media at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo, following his party's disappointing results in the country's general election. Photograph: Takashi Aoyama/AFP/Getty Images
David McNeill in Tokyo
Mon Oct 28 2024 - 06:00

Less than a month since taking office, Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba is on the political ropes after voters punished his coalition government at the ballot box.

With votes still coming in from Sunday’s general election, the coalition will lose its majority in the more powerful Lower House, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Ishiba (67) had gambled on solidifying his power base by calling a snap election just three days after being elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

His predecessor Fumio Kishida had seen his popularity plummet amid rising inflation and after a string of money scandals before he finally stepped down last month.

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The party withdrew its endorsement of 12 lawmakers in a bid to put the fundraising scandal behind it but many voters were not convinced.

The LDP shows no signs of remorse, so it is up to us to make them assume responsibility

Counting on Sunday night showed opposition parties, led by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan(CDPJ) making strong gains, suggesting the LDP could lose its majority for the first time since 2009.

Yoshihiko Noda, the head of the CDPJ said before the election that the public had been “made to look like fools” by the ruling bloc. “The LDP shows no signs of remorse, so it is up to us to make them assume responsibility,” he said.

The LDP went into the election with 279 seats in the 456-seat Lower House. Its coalition partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito, had 32. Most exit polls show both parties losing seats.

Ishiba beat hardline nationalist Sanae Takaichi last month on his fifth attempt to become president of the ruling party. He was officially sworn in as prime minister on October 1st.

But he is now at risk of becoming Japan’s shortest-serving prime minister, replacing Naruhiko Higashikuni, who held office for just 54 days immediately after the second World War.

Most of the major opposition parties have ruled out cooperating with the LDP, so Ishiba may be forced to accept candidates who did not have the party’s endorsement.

Attention will now turn to whether the fragmented opposition can unite to form a government capable of challenging the LDP, one of the world’s most successful political parties, which has ruled Japan for most of the postwar period.

Some analysts have recalled 1993, when the party lost its majority for the first time since 1955. An unwieldy seven-party coalition took power, but collapsed the following year. The LDP was back in office a year later.