Japanese MPs vote to keep new Shigeru Ishiba at helm

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba kept his job in a parliamentary vote on Monday, despite having led the ruling coalition to its worst election result in 15 years.

Japan Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after Monday night’s parliamentary vote. Picture: Getty Images

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba kept his job in a parliamentary vote on Monday, despite having recently led the ruling coalition to its worst general election result in 15 years.

MPs appointed Mr Ishiba head of a minority government, meaning he may face political gridlock or need to compromise to pass new bills.

Mr Ishiba, 67, took office six weeks ago and held a snap election on October 27, hoping to shore up his mandate as leader of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party. But voters, unhappy with inflation and a slush-fund scandal that helped sink predecessor Fumio Kishida, delivered a ballot-box blow to the LDP and its junior coalition partner.

“I was appointed as Prime Minister. I take this weight solemnly,” Mr Ishiba said late at night after forming a new cabinet. “After the very difficult election results, I believe the LDP must be reborn as a party for people.”

MPs in the Diet’s lower house convened on Monday for a special four-day session to nominate the prime minister, a necessary step after an election.

Despite losing its majority in last month’s election, the LDP coalition remains the largest bloc in the 465-seat House of Representatives.

The opposition parties are divided on key issues, stopping them from mounting a credible challenge to Mr Ishiba.

The lower house Speaker ­announced Mr Ishiba’s appointment after a run-off – the first since 1994 – in which he won 221 votes against 160 for Yoshihiko Noda, head of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP).

Eighty-four votes were discounted because they named other politicians. Some people joked online that the Prime Minister appeared to be dozing off in TV footage from the three-hour parliament session – a common ­occurrence among Japanese legislators – as MPs lined up to vote one by one. Mr Ishiba announced a new cabinet after the vote, replacing ministers who lost their seats in the election. There are still only two women among the 20 cabinet members.

To have enough sway to pass legislation, the ruling bloc has asked for help from the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), a small centrist group. The DPP has agreed to co-operate on a vote-by-vote basis while staying out of the coalition.

In talks with the LDP, it has demanded tax cuts and energy subsidies that economists say would slash the government’s revenues.

“In order to stay in power, Ishiba needs to pass the government budget this winter,” said Tomoaki Iwai, professor emeritus at Nihon University. “It will mean the LDP will have to concede some of its policies to seek co-operation from others.”

Mr Ishiba said on Monday he “would like to meet directly with US president-elect Donald Trump at the earliest possible opportunity”.

He is reportedly trying to ­arrange the meeting for later this month, around the time the Japanese Prime Minister travels to Peru for the APEC summit. ­Analysts have warned that possible fresh US tariffs on ­Chinese and Japanese goods under Mr Trump may fuel inflation.

During the late-night press conference, Mr Ishiba touched on the importance of defence manpower and mentioned Chinese and Russian military activities surrounding Japan and North Korea’s latest ICBM missile launch.

Approval ratings for Mr Ishiba’s government are just above 30 per cent, but polls show a ­majority of the public says he should remain Prime Minister.

In a twist, DPP head Yuichiro Tamaki on Monday admitted to an extramarital affair reported by a tabloid. “I apologise for causing such a disturbance,” he said. His party later decided to keep him on as leader.

Along with these negotiations, Mr Ishiba must also contend with discontent within the LDP, which has ruled Japan for almost all of its post-war history.

Mr Noda vowed after the vote to “work hard to unite the opposition parties” with an eye to making gains in the upper house election.

AFP