Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Wednesday that he will not seek re-election to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in September and will therefore resign from his post as head of the government. This is expected to happen in October, when the party has chosen a new leader, proposes him as prime minister, and the parliament, where the LDP has a majority, formally ratifies him in office.
“This is the first step to show that the LDP will change,” Kishida told a televised news conference, during which he pledged to “take responsibility” for a funding scandal that rocked his party in December. The 67-year-old premier has come under intense scrutiny from within and outside the party for his handling of the internal crisis, but also for public discontent with a battered economy and rising living costs. In a poll last week by broadcaster NHK, only 25 percent of respondents gave Kishida a thumbs up, compared with 54 percent when he took office nearly three years ago.
“In the upcoming presidential elections [del partido] “It is necessary to show society that the PLD will change. To do so, it is more important than ever to hold transparent elections without blockages, as well as a free debate,” Kishida told the media. “And the most obvious action to demonstrate this is for me to take a step back myself,” he added.
Conservative Kishida is the eighth prime minister since 1945 to reach 1,000 days in office. Although legislative elections are scheduled for autumn 2025, his continued leadership of the cabinet was in any case tied to his remaining in the LDP presidency after the party primaries scheduled for late September.
Under Japan’s electoral system, voters elect members of the House of Representatives, but the party with the most seats nominates the prime minister, who is then formally appointed by the National Diet (parliament). The LDP has held parliamentary control virtually uninterrupted since its founding in 1955, and has governed the country with only two brief interruptions, from 1993 to 1994 and from 2009 to 2012.
The Japanese prime minister has said that he is taking this “tough decision” with the desire to “move towards renewal” because “it is the trust of the people that makes politics work.” His party has been embroiled in one of the biggest political scandals in decades in recent months. Two of the most influential factions have been accused of not declaring several million euros from a financing campaign in official records and, in some cases, of allegedly diverting funds to make bribes.
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Kishida was not directly involved in the scandal and has tried to restore confidence by calling for the dissolution of factions, announcing anti-corruption measures and punishments, and revising the fundraising control law. He said on Wednesday that the only thing left for him to do was “take responsibility as party chief for the serious situation caused by party lawmakers.”
In recent years, the LDP has also been plagued by ties among some of its members to the controversial Unification Church, the same church to which belonged the mother of the assassin of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who died two years ago after being shot twice while doing politics on the street.
Kishida’s successor will be tasked with leading the world’s fourth-largest economy, which is struggling. The yen’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar has further exacerbated living costs in Japan, a nation that relies heavily on imported goods due to a scarcity of natural resources.
Kishida was elected to succeed Yoshihide Suga as leader of the LDP in September 2021, and was appointed prime minister by parliament in October of that year. His term in office has been marked by turbulent years internationally, which have pushed Japan to review its military policy, traditionally considered pacifist. Under his government, Japan’s largest military buildup since World War II has been announced, which he has justified in light of “increasing security risks from China and Russia, and North Korea’s nuclear development.” In 2022, the Japanese Cabinet has set itself the goal of doubling its annual security budget to around 2% of gross domestic product (in line with NATO standards, an organization to which it does not belong) after having kept it at around 1% since 1976.
Japan has also provided continued support to Ukraine since the Russian invasion, further strengthening its ties with Washington. The country has, in fact, been the linchpin in US President Joe Biden’s alliance-building in the Indo-Pacific. With US backing, Kishida has also repaired some of the strained relations with South Korea, allowing both Asian countries and their mutual ally to deepen security cooperation to counter the threat of North Korea’s nuclear and missile program.
“I am proud of the important achievements my administration has managed to produce,” Kishida said. He also noted that his government has pushed through an ambitious package of measures to address the declining birth rate.
Like Kishida, his immediate predecessor Suga has also given up seeking re-election as LDP leader, leaving former Prime Minister Abe in 2018 as the last to do so. Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba has already launched his candidacy as a possible replacement, NHK reported. Other names floating around the list of potential contenders include Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Digital Transformation Minister Taro Kono and former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi. Analysts say the LDP will need to choose a fresh face who is completely unconnected with the scandals that have rocked the party recently if it wants to survive the 2025 general election. Kishida has declined to comment on who he will support.
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