Japanese lawmakers voted to keep Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in power on Monday. His coalition lost its parliamentary majority in a recent lower house election amid a series of scandals. The vote, which took place on Monday, positions Ishiba to lead a precarious minority government amid increasing tensions with China and North Korea and rising domestic pressure to act on the cost-of-living crisis.
Ishiba took office six weeks ago and called a snap election for Oct. 27 to shoo up his leadership with the conservative LDP. Angry voters punished it and its junior coalition partner over inflation and the slush fund scandal credited with bringing down his predecessor, Fumio Kishida.
In the parliamentary runoff- the first such since 1994- Ishiba won 221 votes against Yoshihiko Noda, head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, with 160 votes. Eighty-four were invalidated as they named other candidates. Lower house speaker Fukushiro Nukaga declared Ishiba premier once more. Fellow legislators burst into applause.
Even after losing its majority status in October, the LDP coalition is the largest bloc in the 465-seat lower house. Ishiba will announce the new cabinet later today, and the emperor will then give it formal, ceremonial approval.
To pass the legislature, the ruling coalition relies on the Democratic Party for the People, a small, centrist party that has pledged to collaborate vote by vote without joining the coalition. The party has demanded tax cuts and energy subsidies that could deeply cut government revenues.
According to political analysts, if he is to remain in power, Ishiba will have to pass the government budget this winter, which may require reducing policy in a bid to attract outside help.
He will also visit former U.S. President Donald Trump later this month on the sidelines of an economic summit that Trump is expected to join in Peru. The Trump administration’s possible new tariffs against Japanese goods could boost inflation even more in Japan, adding to pressure for more defense spending.
Approval ratings for the Ishiba government are only marginally above 30 percent, although polls suggest that most of the public favors his remaining prime minister. Dissatisfaction inside the LDP is deep, however, as the heavy losses in the recent election-even among cabinet ministers-prompt concern about his leading the party into next year’s upper house elections. Noda promised that the CDP will work hard for seat gain in the upper house election to be held in July.
