Shigeru Ishiba reelected as Japan’s prime minister
UNB
Publish: 11 Nov 2024, 09:53 PM
TOKYO,
Nov 11 (AP/UNB) - Japan's parliament reelected Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on
Monday after his governing coalition suffered the worst election loss in more
than a decade.
Ishiba's ruling Liberal
Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito together lost their majority in
the 465-seat Lower House, the more powerful of Japan's two-house parliament, in
the Oct. 27 election due to continued voter outrage over financial misconduct
by his party and its lukewarm response.
A special parliamentary
session convened Monday to pick a new leader in a vote required within 30 days
of a general election. In the past, these votes did not attract as much
attention because an LDP leader was virtually assured to be prime minister.
Ishiba beat top opposition leader Yoshihiko Noda 221-160 in the first runoff in
30 years.
Most of his previous
Cabinet members will be reappointed, but Ishiba will have to replace three who
lost their seats or were affected by the election results.
Since the election loss,
Ishiba has refused to step down, saying is willing to cooperate with additional
coalition partners to boost stability and help him pursue his party's policies.
Noda, head of the centrist opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan,
has sought to form an opposition coalition - but so far unsuccessfully.
Ishiba will struggle in
the coming months as he must gain consent from the opposition on policies
including the budget and other legislation.
He is eyeing a rising
smaller, conservative opposition, the Democratic Party for the People, whose
seats quadrupled to 28 under its popular leader Yuichiro Tamaki.
A Harvard-educated
former Finance Ministry bureaucrat, Tamaki has proposed raising the basic
tax-free income allowance and increasing take-home wages, ideas that attracted
low-income earners and younger voters in the election. He only wants to
cooperate with Ishiba's party on policy - not as part of a coalition - since he
wants to use his leverage to increase his party's standing ahead of the next
election.
Tamaki was recently
stung by a magazine article exposing an extramarital affair, which he admitted
to on Monday, adding to political uncertainty.
Ishiba's government is
preparing for his trip later this month to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
and Group of 20 summits, as well as a possible meeting with U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump on his way home.
End/UNB/AP/MB