Japan: New Prime Minister is on the horizon, Fumio Kishida resigns as party leader

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will not run for re-election as chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) because he believes the party needs a “fresh start”.

The 67-year-old LDP veteran is expected to step down as prime minister after the party elects a new leader in September.

Support for Mr Kishida, who has been prime minister since 2021, has fallen amid a corruption scandal within his party, rising living costs and a falling yen.

His approval ratings plummeted to 15.5 percent last month – the lowest for a prime minister in over a decade.

“In the upcoming presidential election, we must show people that the Liberal Democratic Party will change,” Mr Kishida said at a press conference on Wednesday announcing his decision.

“A transparent and open election and a free and open debate are important. The first easy-to-understand step that indicates that the LDP will change is for me to resign,” he said.

Some within the party doubt whether Mr Kishida can lead the LDP to victory in the next general election in 2025. The party has been in power almost continuously since 1955.

Still, LDP leaders were shocked by Mr. Kishida’s announcement.

A senior politician told broadcaster NHK that he had tried to persuade Mr Kishida to run, but the prime minister said it would have been “irresponsible”.

A member of Kishida’s party faction called the decision “very regrettable and unfortunate,” adding that the prime minister “had a good record in foreign policy, defense policy and domestic policy, but was forced to resign for political and financial reasons.”

Analysts have told the BBC that Japan is going through a once-in-a-generation political crisis as the ruling party struggles to clean up its image.

Last December, Within two weeks, four LDP cabinet ministers resigned because of a donations scandal involving the most powerful faction of the ruling party.

Five senior vice ministers and a deputy parliamentary minister from the same faction formerly led by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also resigned.

Japanese prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into whether dozens of LDP lawmakers received proceeds from fundraising events in which millions of dollars were not reported in official party records.

But Kishida’s handling of the donations scandal drew public criticism and made him even more unpopular.

The controversy also came as Japanese households grappled with the fastest-rising food prices in nearly half a century.

The combination of economic problems and political scandals fueled mistrust of the ruling party, even though the opposition was weak and divided.

“From now on, the entire political situation will be in flux,” Jun Azumi, a lawmaker from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, told NHK after Mr Kishida’s announcement.

Mr. Kishida comes from a family of politicians – both his father and grandfather were members of the Japanese House of Representatives.

He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1993. He served in that office from 2012 to 2017, becoming Japan’s longest-serving foreign minister.

He took office as Prime Minister in October 2021as the successor to Yoshihide Suga, who resigned after only one year in office. Shortly thereafter, he led the LDP to victory in the 2021 general election.

Over the past three years, Mr Kishida’s government has pushed for measures to raise wages and household incomes in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.

He oversaw Japan’s reopening after the Covid-19 pandemic and was in office when the country experienced one of its most shocking political moments – the Assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022. He also made the controversial decision Honor the murdered leader with a state funeral.

Even though he faced difficulties at home, Mr. Kishida regularly made headlines for his diplomacy.

Japan has long been a key U.S. ally in the tense Indo-Pacific, where it faces an assertive China and a nuclear-armed North Korea. And Mr. Kishida has successfully increased the country’s military budget and taken cautious steps away from its postwar pacifist ideals.

Defense cooperation with Washington has deepened under his government, and he also improved relations with South Korea, welcomes President Yoon Suk Yeol for a historic visit to Tokyo.

In another unprecedented move, Japan, the United States and South Korea issued a joint statement at a summit in Camp David last August demanding: Expanding cooperation between them.

Additional reporting by Chika Nakayama in Tokyo