TOKYO: Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed Monday to stay in office despite his gamble of snap elections backfiring, with the ruling party\u2019s worst result in 15 years.
\nIshiba, 67, called Sunday\u2019s election days after taking office on October 1, but voters angry at a slush fund scandal punished his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed Japan almost non-stop since 1955.
\nWith projections suggesting the LDP-led coalition would lose its ruling majority, Ishiba vowed to stay in office, saying he would not allow a \u201cpolitical vacuum.\u201d
\n\u201cI want to fulfill my duty by protecting people\u2019s lives, protecting Japan,\u201d Ishiba told reporters.
\nHe said the biggest election factor was \u201cpeople\u2019s suspicion, mistrust and anger\u201d over a scandal, which saw LDP figures pocket money from fund-raising events and which helped sink his predecessor Fumio Kishida.
\n\u201cI will enact fundamental reform regarding the issue of money and politics,\u201d Ishiba told reporters, repeating that voters had delivered a \u201csevere judgment\u201d on the party.
\nThe yen hit a three-month low, sliding more than one percent against the dollar, as exit polls and results reported by national broadcaster NHK and other media showed the worst result for the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito in 15 years.
\nThey were projected to fall short of Ishiba\u2019s stated goal of winning at least 233 seats \u2014 a majority in the 456-member lower house.
\nThe LDP won 191 seats, down from 259 at the last election in 2021, and Komeito 24, according to NHK tallies. Official results were expected later Monday.
\nAhead of the election, Japanese media had speculated that if this happened, Ishiba could potentially quit, becoming the nation\u2019s shortest-serving prime minister in the post-war period.
\nOn Monday the LDP\u2019s election committee chief, former premier Junichiro Koizumi\u2019s son Shinjiro Koizumi, resigned.
\nThe most likely next step is that Ishiba will now seek to head a minority government, with the divided opposition seen as probably incapable of forming a coalition of their own, analysts said.
\nIshiba said Monday he was not considering a broader coalition \u201cat this point.\u201d
\n\u201cLawmakers aligned with (former prime minister Shinzo) Abe were cold-shouldered under Ishiba, so they could potentially pounce on the opportunity to take their revenge,\u201d Yu Uchiyama, political science professor at the University of Tokyo, told AFP.
\n\u201cBut at the same time, with the number of LDP seats reduced so much, they might take the high road and support Ishiba for now, thinking it\u2019s not the time for infighting,\u201d he said.
\nA big winner was former premier Yoshihiko Noda\u2019s opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) which increased its projected seat tally to 148 from 96 at the last election.
\nIshiba had promised to not actively support LDP politicians caught up in the funding scandal.
\nBut the opposition jumped on media reports that the party has provided 20 million yen ($132,000) each to district offices headed by these figures, who were still standing in the election.
\n\u201cVoters chose which party would be the best fit to push for political reforms,\u201d Noda said late Sunday, adding that the \u201cLDP-Komeito administration cannot continue.\u201d
\nMirroring elections elsewhere, fringe parties did well, with Reiwa Shinsengumi, founded by a former actor, tripling its seats to nine after promising to abolish sales tax and boost pensions.
\nThe anti-immigration and traditionalist Conservative Party of Japan, established in 2023 by nationalist writer Naoki Hyakuta, won its first three seats.
\nThe number of women lawmakers meanwhile reached a record high at 73, according to NHK, but still representing less than 16 percent of the legislature.
\n\u201cAs long as our own lives don\u2019t improve, I think everyone has given up on the idea that we can expect anything from politicians,\u201d restaurant worker Masakazu Ikeuchi, 44, told AFP on Monday in rainy Tokyo.
\n\u201cI think the outcome was a result of people across Japan wanting to change the current situation,\u201d said fellow voter Takako Sasaki, 44.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TOKYO: Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed Monday to stay in office despite his gamble of snap elections backfiring, with the ruling party\u2019s worst result in 15 years. Ishiba, 67, called Sunday\u2019s election days after taking office on October 1, but voters angry at a slush fund scandal punished his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-439951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n