Japan’s Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba, has announced his resignation following growing pressure from within his party to take responsibility for a historic defeat in July’s parliamentary election.
Ishiba, who took office in October, said he was stepping down both as Prime Minister and as leader of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
He instructed LDP which has ruled Japan for almost all of the post-war period, to hold an emergency leadership race, adding he would continue his duties until his successor was elected.
The 68-year-old leader had initially resisted pressure from within his party to step down, saying he wanted to ensure the proper implementation of a recently negotiated tariff deal with the United States.
Having finalized the details of a trade deal with the U.S. aimed at easing President Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs, Ishiba told jounalist that he must take responsibility for his party’s string of bruising election defeats.
“With Japan having signed the trade agreement and the US president having signed the executive order, we have passed a key hurdle. I would like to pass the baton to the next generation,” he noted.
Ishiba will remain as prime minister until the party holds elections to replace him as president of the LDP.
His resignation deepens the political uncertainty facing the world’s fourth-largest economy.
After assuming his role last October, the 68-year-old politician saw electoral defeats wipe out his coalition’s majority in both houses of parliament.
The losses, stoked by voter’s concerns about the rising cost of living, made it more difficult for Ishiba’s government to implement its policy objectives.
Amid the country’s growing political instability, the Prime Minister was urged to resign by mostly right-wing opponents within his party, who viewed him as responsible for the results of July’s House of Councillors election.
Reports suggested that Japan’s agricultural minister and a former prime minister met Ishiba on Saturday evening to persuade him to step aside.
