Japanese ruling party leader Shigeru Ishiba was elected prime minister in parliament on Tuesday, succeeding Fumio Kishida to take charge of the country at a time of low public confidence in politics, a shaky economy and mounting security threats.
Ishiba, who was elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party last week, was endorsed by both the lower and upper house. The confirmation sets the stage for a general election on Oct. 27, despite growing criticism from the opposition bloc about the timing of the poll that delayed Tuesday’s parliamentary vote at the last minute.
Long seen as a maverick, the 67-year-old Ishiba is likely to face a challenging start to his premiership as he seeks to restore voter trust in the scandal-hit ruling party and mend intraparty divisions that have deepened since the LDP leadership election.
Ishiba’s decision to call a snap election met resistance from opposition parties, which described his making of the announcement Monday even before his election as premier as “disrespectful” and “unconstitutional.”
The extraordinary Diet session will run through Oct. 9, the day when Ishiba is expected to dissolve the lower house.
Following the mass resignation of Kishida’s Cabinet, Ishiba is set to form his own Cabinet.
He will give the key posts of foreign and defense minister to two of his supporters who share similar views on Japan’s global role and responsibilities. Some of those who ran against Ishiba in the LDP’s race are also expected to receive Cabinet positions.
Taking the helm of the LDP in his fifth attempt, Ishiba faces a delicate balancing act as he tries to form a stable government and reduce intraparty friction. Ishiba gave two former premiers, Taro Aso and Yoshihide Suga, who still wield influence over LDP members, the symbolic posts of supreme advisor and vice president, respectively.
Ishiba has indicated he will not deviate from the economic policy implemented by Kishida, who focused on boosting wages. The incoming prime minister has emphasized it is vital for Japan to promote robust wage growth as private consumption lacks vigor, saying the Bank of Japan should maintain accommodative monetary conditions.
On the defense front, Ishiba wants to push for the creation of an Asian-style NATO collective security arrangement amid rising tensions between China and Taiwan. He has also voiced eagerness to review a Japan-U.S. agreement to make the bilateral alliance more equal.
In the new Cabinet, former defense chief Takeshi Iwaya will become foreign minister, while Gen Nakatani will once again take the post of defense minister. Both lawmakers played critical roles in electing Ishiba as LDP chief.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, the top government spokesman under Kishida and one of the nine contenders in the LDP race, will retain the post of chief Cabinet secretary.
Another candidate, former health minister Katsunobu Kato, is set to become finance minister. The former finance ministry bureaucrat pledged to double people’s incomes during the LDP election, stressing that securing economic growth should precede fiscal rehabilitation.
Ishiba is expected to deliver his policy speech on Friday. After the lower house is dissolved, official campaigning for the general election is expected to kick off on Oct. 15.
The current terms of lower house members end in October 2025. The previous election was held in October 2021, shortly after Kishida became prime minister.
Kishida did not seek reelection as LDP chief after struggling to shore up falling public support due to revelations of the LDP’s ties with the controversial Unification Church and party factions amassing slush funds.
During his tenure, Japan decided to increase defense spending by 43 trillion yen ($300 billion) over five years and raise taxes without specifying the exact timing to cover part of the costs. It also lifted its restrictions on acquiring enemy base attack capabilities.
Japan’s ties with Asian neighbors, fraught with difficulties stemming from wartime history and territorial claims, improved, especially with South Korea.
On the economic front, the government scrambled to cope with the yen’s steep fall, which dealt a blow to the resource-poor nation by hiking energy and raw material costs, leading to relief measures for households despite the state coffers being in dire straits. It also saw Japan lose its status as the world’s third-largest economy to Germany.
In a boost to Kishida’s policy of creating “a new version of capitalism” through wealth redistribution, Japan saw its fastest pace of wage growth in three decades but did not reach a point where it could officially break with deflation with the help of a virtuous cycle of pay and price increases.
