TOKYO, SANA – Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has expressed his intention to step down less than a year after taking the helm, senior government officials said Sunday, a day before the party was supposed to decide whether to hold a presidential contest.
The move came after Ishiba held talks Saturday night with former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi, both of whom are close to Ishiba. They are believed to have urged him to avoid a split in the LDP.
According to sources close to him, Ishiba, who took office in October 2024, voiced his willingness to fend off moves to hold an LDP leadership contest by threatening to dissolve the House of Representatives and call a snap election — a stance that caused a backlash within the LDP.
Amid mounting calls for Ishiba to take responsibility for the loss of the ruling coalition’s majority in the upper house election in July, the LDP had planned to collect signatures from its lawmakers on Monday to determine whether to hold a presidential election ahead of the scheduled contest in 2027.
The party decided Sunday to cancel the procedures following Ishiba expressing his intention to resign, a senior LDP official said.
Criticism of Ishiba has grown in recent days, even among his allies, as he has vowed to remain in office. Suga, who served as prime minister for about one year from September 2020, is reportedly concerned that a leadership contest could widen rifts within the ruling party.
On Tuesday, Ishiba said he would determine his political future at an “appropriate time” but reiterated his eagerness to stay on to pursue policy goals, even as a close aide expressed readiness to resign from a key party post.
Source: Kyodo
Iman/Amer Dhaw
