Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced on Sunday (September 7, 2025) he will step down following growing calls from his party to take responsibility for a historic defeat in July’s parliamentary election.

Mr. Ishiba, who took office in October, had resisted demands from mostly right-wing opponents within his own party for more than a month, saying such a step would cause a political vacuum when Japan faces key challenges in and outside the country.

The resignation came one day before his Liberal Democratic Party was to decide whether to hold an early leadership election, a virtual no-confidence motion against him if approved.

Mr. Ishiba said during a televised press conference he would start a process to hold a party leadership vote to choose his replacement and that there was no need for Monday’s decision.

If the Prime Minister had stayed on, he would have inevitably struggled to manage his divided party and minority government.

In July, Mr. Ishiba ’s ruling coalition failed to secure a majority in the 248-seat upper house in a crucial parliamentary election, further shaking the stability of his government. The loss added to an earlier election defeat in the lower house, where the party-led coalition also had lost a majority.

His decision came after his meeting on Saturday (September 6, 2025) with Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his perceived mentor, former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who apparently suggested Mr. Ishiba’s resignation ahead of Monday’s (September 8, 2025) vote.

He had previously insisted on staying, stressing the need to avoid a political vacuum at a time Japan faces big challenges, including U.S. tariffs and their impact on the economy, rising prices, rice policy reforms and growing tension in the region.

Since the LDP’s last week adoption of its review of the election loss, which called for ”a complete overhaul” of the party, requests for an early leadership vote or for Ishiba’s resignation before Monday’s results have gained traction.

A conservative heavyweight Taro Aso, known for his anti-Ishiba stance, and a minister and several deputy ministers in the Ishiba Cabinet have requested an early vote, prompting others to follow suit.

Former Health Minister Norihisa Tamura told an NHK talk show earlier Sunday that the best way to stop the party divide and move forward is for Ishiba “to settle” the dispute before Monday’s vote, urging his resignation. The party has already been distracted from necessary work on economic measures and on figuring out ways to gain opposition support in the next parliamentary session, Tamura said.

With Mr. Ishiba stepping down as party leader, the LDP is expected to set a date for its party presidential election, likely to be held in early October.

Possible candidates include Koizumi, as well as ultra-conservative former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, a moderate and the protege of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Lacking a majority in both houses, the next LDP leader will have to work with the main opposition parties to get bills passed, experts say, or else face constant risks of no-confidence motions.

The Opposition parties, however, are too splintered to form a big coalition to topple the government.

In recent weeks, Mr. Ishiba successfully got U.S. President Donald Trump to lower the tariff rates the US administration imposed on Japan from 25% to 15%. Mr. Ishiba also said he has had his chief trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, deliver his letter to Trump, stating his wish to work with him to create “the golden era” of the Japan-U.S. alliance, inviting the American leader to visit Japan.

Mr. Ishiba’s top aide, LDP Secretary General Hiroshi Moriyama, a key figure who negotiated with main opposition leaders to help achieve legislation since the prime minister took office, has also expressed his intention to step down on Sept. 2 over the election loss, though Mr. Ishiba hasn’t granted him resignation. Moriyama’s departure would have dealt a blow to the prime minister.

Published – September 07, 2025 12:26 pm IST

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, arrives for a campaign for the upcoming general election in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday (October 26, 2024).
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s conservative ruling party braced for a blow to its comfortable majority in the lower house of Parliament in Sunday’s (October 27, 2024) elections amid public rage over the party’s financial scandals and discontent over a stagnant economy. The results could weaken Ishiba’s grip on power, possibly leading Japan into political uncertainty, though a change of government was not expected.

Mr. Ishiba took office on October 1, 2024, replacing his predecessor, Fumio Kishida who resigned after failing to pacify the public over widespread slush fund practices among Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers. Mr. Ishiba immediately ordered a snap election in hopes of shoring up support by using his outspoken, reformist image.

Voting began Sunday (October 27, 2024) morning across Japan, where 1,344 candidates, including a record 314 women, are running for office. Polls will close at 8 p.m., with early results expected within hours.

Mr. Ishiba has set a goal of retaining 233 seats for the ruling coalition between the LDP and its Buddhist-backed junior partner Komeito, a majority in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber Parliament.

Mr. Ishiba, in his final speeches Saturday (October 26, 2024) in Tokyo, apologised over his party’s mishandling of funds and pledged “to restart as an equal, fair, humble and honest party.” He said only the LDP’s ruling coalition can responsibly run Japan with its experience and dependable policies.

Once a popular politician known for his criticism of even his own party’s policies, Mr. Ishiba has also seen support for his weeks-old Cabinet plunge.

The biggest Opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is led by centrist leader Yoshihiko Noda, who briefly served as Prime Minister during the LDP’s 2009-2012 descent from power. Mr. Noda’s party is expected to make significant gains. Mr. Noda says Sunday’s (October 27, 2024) election is a rare chance for a change of Government, which will be the most effective political reform, though his party has trouble finding other opposition groups with which to cooperate.

Analysts suggest Mr. Ishiba could fall short of reaching his target, though his LDP was expected to remain the top party in Japan’s Parliament as voters are skeptical about the Opposition’s ability and inexperience.

“Losing a majority would mean Ishiba would have difficulty establishing policies and could face calls from within his party for a replacement ahead of next summer’s election in the upper house,” experts say.

“The public’s criticisms against the slush funds scandal have intensified, and it won’t go away easily,” said Izuru Makihara, a University of Tokyo professor of politics and public policy. “There is a growing sense of fairness and people are rejecting privileges for politicians,” Makihara said, suggesting Mr. Ishiba needs bold political reform measures to regain public trust.

Mr. Ishiba pledged to revitalize the rural economy, address Japan’s falling birth rate and bolster defense. But his Cabinet has old faces — only two women and was seen as alienating members of the scandal-tainted faction led by late premier Shinzo Abe. Mr. Ishiba quickly retreated from earlier support for a dual surname option for married couples and legalising same-sex marriage, an apparent compromise to the party’s influential ultra-conservatives.

His popularity fell because of “the gap in what the public expected him to be as prime minister versus the reality of what he brought as prime minister,” said Rintaro Nishimura, a political analyst at The Asia Group.

“The LDP is also being tested Sunday (October 27, 2024) for its ability to break from the legacy of Abe, whose policies focused on security, trade and industry but largely ignored equality and diversity, and its nearly eight-year rule led to the corruption,” experts say.

“There could be regrouping attempts among opposition parties to decide whether to cooperate among themselves or join the ruling coalition,” political watchers say.

Potential new partners for the LDP include the Democratic Party of the People, a breakaway group from the CPDJ, which calls for lower taxes, and a conservative Japan Innovation Party, though both are currently denying a possible coalition with the LDP.

The LDP, whose dissolution of most factions that used to help bring together support for pushing through on elections and on policy, is less cohesive and could enter the era of short-lived prime ministers. Ishiba is expected to last at least until the ruling bloc approves key budget plans at the end of December.

Party members take part in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential election in the city of Nagoya, Aichi prefectural on September 27, 2024. Japan’s ruling party will choose the nation’s leader in a vote on September 27, with three frontrunners: the surfing son of a former Prime Minister, a veteran defence geek and an arch-nationalist who would be the country’s first woman premier.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Japan’s ruling party will hold one of the most unpredictable leadership contests in decades on Friday (September 27, 2024), a race that could result in Japan’s youngest or first female Premier, or see a popular veteran succeed in his fifth and final leadership bid.

The scramble to replace current Premier Fumio Kishida was sparked in August when he announced his intention to step down over a series of scandals that plunged the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) ratings to record lows.

Polls suggest three candidates have the edge in a record nine-strong field: ex-Environment Minister and heir to a political dynasty Shinjiro Koizumi, 43; Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, 63; and former Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba, 67.

Whoever is chosen must quell anger at home over rising living costs and navigate a volatile security environment in East Asia fuelled by an increasingly assertive China and nuclear-armed North Korea.

The LDP, which has ruled Japan for almost all of the post-war era and has a majority in parliament, must hold a general election by October 2025. If Mr. Koizumi wins, he has pledged to hold a snap election that could come as early as next month.

“It’s safe to assume that Mr. Ishiba, Ms. Takaichi, and Mr. Koizumi will do quite well, but I really cannot say who out of those three will win the race,” said Yu Uchiyama, a professor of politics at Tokyo University.

“I don’t think we’ll know until the very last moment.”

The result from the ballot, compromised of votes from each of the LDP’s 368 lawmakers and an equal number distributed among rank-and-file members, is expected around 1420 JST (0520GMT).

If no candidate secures a simple majority— which is anticipated due to the wide field— a run-off poll follows between the two candidates with the most votes.

In the run-off, each lawmaker again gets one vote, but the share of the rank-and-file drops to 47 votes, one for each of Japan’s prefectures. That result is due at 1530 JST (0630GMT).

Traditionally, powerful party factions have swung in cohort behind favoured candidates, making it easier to predict who might prevail.

While the influence of party elders will still play a role, most of these factions were recently disbanded following a scandal over unrecorded political donations, making this vote harder to predict, say analysts.

Frontrunners

Polls suggest Mr. Koizumi, the telegenic son of a former Prime Minister who governed between 2001-2006, has the most support among lawmakers. However, some of his campaign pledges, such as reforming Japan’s rigid labour rules, appear to have dented his grassroots following.

If he prevails, he will become Japan’s youngest Premier, surpassing the country’s first-ever Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi, who took office aged 44 in 1885, according to official records.

Mr. Ishiba, by contrast, has proved popular among the rank-and-file but has courted controversy with his peers for going against the grain and challenging previous leaders, and has failed in four previous leadership bids. He has said he will not run again.

Ms. Takaichi, a hardline nationalist and advocate of deceased former Premier Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” stimulus policies, could be the most consequential pick— not least because she would be the first female Prime Minister in a male-dominated society.

She has been a vocal critic of the Bank of Japan’s efforts to raise interest rates further away from historic lows, and her election could spur a yen sell-off, market strategists say.

Her promise to reverse a trend of leaders avoiding the controversial Yasukuni war shrine if elected, could also sour relations with China, South Korea and others that view the site as a symbol of Japan’s wartime aggression.

The last Japanese leader to visit the shrine, which commemorates war dead including those convicted by an Allied tribunal of war crimes after World War II, was Mr. Abe in 2013.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
| Photo Credit: AP

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was grilled by lawmakers on March 13 about a gathering of ruling party members at which scantily clad female dancers were reportedly told to use their mouths to receive cash tips.

Footage leaked from the event in November organised by a regional chapter of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) showed women dancing and sitting on participants’ laps. The women came from a troupe called Glamor Dancers and were obliged to use their mouths to receive banknotes hanging from those of the participants, media reports said.

One of the organisers, Tetsuya Kawabata, later sought to defend the event by saying that the presence of the “go-go dancers” were intended to ensure “diversity”.“We invited the dancers after studying from various viewpoints, including whether it matches the theme of diversity,” Mr. Kawabata, deputy head of the local LDP youth wing, told broadcaster ANN. He reportedly later resigned from the party. The LDP’s nationwide youth wing on Monday apologised and said that two MPs who attended were stepping down from their posts in the Youth Bureau, but will remain party members and lawmakers.

The episode is embarrassing for the LDP as it seeks to get more women into the male-dominated world of politics.

Mr. Kishida said on March 13 that the event “does not match the Cabinet’s goal of diversity”.

“What my Cabinet seeks is an inclusive society where all people feel the meaning of life with their dignity and diversity respected,” local media quoted him as saying.