Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Sunday (September 7, 2025) he would resign, caving into ruling party pressure on him to take responsibility for a series of election losses, most recently in July’s upper house.

Mr. Ishiba’s resignation will trigger a leadership race in his Liberal Democratic Party, with the winner facing a parliament vote to become Prime Minister.

Since the ruling coalition has lost its majorities in both chambers of parliament, the LDP president is no longer guaranteed to become premier. There is a slim possibility an Opposition party leader takes the helm of the world’s fourth-largest economy.

Here is a list of lawmakers who might throw their hats in the ring:

Ruling – Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)

SANAE TAKAICHI, 64:

If chosen, Ms. Takaichi would be Japan’s first female prime minister.

A party veteran who has held a variety of roles, including economic security and internal affairs minister, she lost to Ishiba in the LDP leadership race in a run-off vote last year.

Known for conservative positions such as revising the pacifist postwar constitution, Takaichi is a regular visitor to the Yasukuni shrine to honour Japan’s war dead, viewed by some Asian neighbours as a symbol of past militarism.

Takaichi stands out for her vocal opposition to the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hikes and her calls to ramp up spending to boost the fragile economy.

SHINJIRO KOIZUMI, 44:

Heir to a political dynasty with a hand in governing Japan for more than a century, Koizumi would become its youngest prime minister in the modern era.

Koizumi ran in the last year’s party leadership race, presenting himself as a reformer able to restore public trust in a scandal-hit party.

Unlike Takaichi, who left government after her defeat in that contest, the Columbia University-educated Koizumi stayed close to Ishiba as his agriculture minister, overseeing a widely publicised attempt to curb soaring rice prices.

In his only other cabinet post, as environment minister, Koizumi called for Japan to get rid of nuclear reactors in 2019. He faced ridicule that year for remarks that climate policy needed to be “cool” and “sexy”. Little is known about his views on economic policy, including on the BOJ.

YOSHIMASA HAYASHI, 64:

Hayashi has been Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, a pivotal job that includes being top government spokesperson, since December 2023 under then-premier Fumio Kishida and Ishiba.

He has held a variety of portfolios, including defence, foreign and agriculture minister, often being tapped as a pinch-hitter following an incumbent’s resignation.

A fluent English speaker, Hayashi worked for trading house Mitsui & Co, studied at the Harvard Kennedy School and was a staffer for U.S. Representative Stephen Neal and Senator William Roth Jr.

Hayashi ran for the LDP leadership race in 2012 and 2024. He has repeatedly called for respecting the BOJ’s independence on monetary policy.

Opposition – Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan

YOSHIHIKO NODA, 68:

Former Prime Minister Noda is the leader of the biggest opposition group, the centre-left Constitutional Democrats.

As premier from 2011 to 2012, he worked with the LDP to push through legislation to double Japan’s consumption tax to 10% to help curb bulging public debt – earning a reputation as a fiscal hawk. The consumption tax was raised to 10% in 2019 for most items.

In the upper house election in July, Noda reversed course and called for a temporary cut to the consumption tax for food items. He has repeatedly called for phasing out the BOJ’s massive stimulus.

Opposition – Democratic Party for the People

YUICHIRO TAMAKI, 56:

Tamaki’s centre-right party is one of the fastest-growing in recent elections.

A former finance ministry bureaucrat, Tamaki co-founded the Democratic Party for the People in 2018 and advocates increasing people’s take-home pay by expanding tax exemptions and slashing the consumption tax.

He supports boosting defence capabilities, stricter regulations for foreigners’ land acquisition and constructing more nuclear power plants.

Tamaki has called on the BOJ to be cautious about phasing out stimulus, saying it should wait until real wages turn positive and help underpin consumption.

Published – September 07, 2025 03:40 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.