TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided to step down, local media reported on Sunday, as members of his ruling party seek to hold a new leadership race following disastrous upper house elections.
The decision comes less than a year after the 68-year-old took the helm of the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He has since lost his majority in both houses of parliament.
Public broadcaster NHK said Ishiba made the decision to avoid a split in the party, while the Asahi Shimbun daily said he was unable to withstand the mounting calls for his resignation.
The farm minister and a former prime minister reportedly met with Ishiba on Saturday night to urge him to resign voluntarily.
Ishiba is expected to announce his intention to quit at a news conference later in the day, NHK said.
Last week, four senior LDP officials including the party’s number two Hiroshi Moriyama offered to resign.
Opponents of Ishiba had been calling on him to step down to take responsibility for the election results, following the upper chamber vote in July.
Those backing the move included 84-year-old influential former prime minister Taro Aso, according to local media.
But some other veteran members urged caution, saying the LDP’s old-style politics was undermining its credibility.
LDP lawmakers and regional officials across Japan who want a new leadership election will submit a request on Monday.
The leadership race will be held if the required majority is reached.
Ishiba’s term as party leader was supposed to end in September 2027.
His most prominent rival Sanae Takaichi, seen as a hardline nationalist, all but said on Tuesday that she would seek a contest.
But recent opinion polls suggested rebounding support for Ishiba’s cabinet, following tariff deals with the United States and the government’s decision to reverse current rice policy to increase production.
Voters are less than keen on the hawkish Takaichi, runner-up in the last leadership election in 2024.
A Nikkei survey held at the end of August put Takaichi as the most “fitting” successor to Ishiba, followed by farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi, but 52 percent of respondents said a leadership contest was unnecessary.
After the election, social media users called for the moderate Ishiba to remain in power under the hashtag “#Ishiba Don’t quit”.
The LDP has governed almost continuously since 1955, but voters have been deserting the party, including towards fringe groups like the populist Sanseito.
Factors include rising prices, notably for rice, falling living standards, and anger at corruption scandals within the LDP.
Diligent career politician Ishiba was elected LDP leader last year on his fifth attempt, promising a “new Japan” – AFP
