Shigeru Ishiba is elected as the new Prime Minister of Japan.
Tokyo: Japan now has a new Prime Minister in Shigerope Ishiba. Japan’s ruling party elected Shigeru Ishiba as its leader today. Now he will take charge next week. Let us tell you that Ishiba was technically elected as the new party leader through voting in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. He is now certain to be elected prime minister in a proposed vote in Parliament next week, with the party’s ruling coalition holding a majority in both houses. Nine candidates, including two women, were competing in these party elections.
Ishiba was elected by a vote of party representatives and grassroots members. Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is facing corruption charges and his party is searching for a new leader in the hope of regaining public confidence before the next general election. Aside from members of parliament from the Liberal Democratic Party, only about 10,000 paying party members can participate in the vote. This number represents only one percent of the total eligible voters in the country. In light of the ongoing internal talks and the possibilities of reaching a settlement among party supporters, it was difficult to predict who would have the upper hand in these elections. According to NHK Television’s initial projections, Shigeru Ishiba, Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaishi, and former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi were the front-runners. Ishiba was also reported to have been a pioneer in media polls.
Takaichi Chuck, a close confidant of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Takaishi was close to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and is considered among the loyal conservative leaders. He will compete against Kishida in 2021. Koizumi is the son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. In previous opinion polls, the leader was often determined by the leaders of the party’s powerful faction, but this time all but one of the six factions announced mergers in the wake of corruption allegations. There is widespread concern among experts that those who win elections, but do not gain factional support, are likely to return to the 2000s in Japan. During this period, leadership changes occurred several times and political instability was seen in the country. Japanese prime ministers who head short-term governments compromise their ability to set long-term policy goals or develop trusting relationships with other leaders. Takaishi and Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa were the only women in the race.
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida will resign
The number of women in the lower house of the Japanese Parliament is only 10.3 percent. According to a report issued last April by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union, Japan ranked 163 out of 190 countries in terms of women’s representation. Kishida and his ministers will resign on Tuesday. Despite the LDP scandals, the main opposition, the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is struggling to consolidate its position. But experts say its newly elected leader Yoshihiko Noda is pushing for a conservative shift for the party and could mark a broader political realignment. Noda is the former Prime Minister of Japan and is considered among the centrist leaders. (AP)
Who is Shigeru Ishiba?
Shigeru Ishiba is a former Japanese Minister of Defense. He is very fond of books. Ishiba reads three books a day. After four previous failed attempts, the 67-year-old Ishiba, who considered himself alone, reached the top of the Liberal Democratic Party. This party has ruled Japan for most of the past seven decades. Ishiba took charge of the party, which is in crisis, with popular support for it declining over the past two years amid revelations of its ties to a church that critics describe as a sect and a scandal over unrecorded donations. He first reached parliament in 1986. But he was sidelined by outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for the time being and instead became an opposition voice in the party. “I consider this my last fight,” Ishiba said. He began his election campaign at a Shinto shrine in rural Tottori Prefecture. Ishiba’s father was a governor and Ishiba began his political career at the height of Japan’s economic boom.
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