Support sinks for Japan coalition after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba suffered brutal election blow

Opinion polls show support has sunk further for Japan’s ruling coalition after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s party suffered its worst election result in 15 years.

Japanese Prime Minister and leader of the country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party Shigeru Ishiba addresses the media. Picture: Getty Images

Support has sunk further for Japan’s embattled ruling coalition, a new poll showed on Wednesday, after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s party suffered its worst election result in 15 years.

Backing for the government nosedived to 34 per cent, while its disapproval rating came to 51 per cent, according to the survey by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily.

In Mr Ishiba’s short honeymoon period after taking office on October 1, the same survey found 51 per cent supported his cabinet against 32 per cent who didn’t.

A separate poll by Kyodo News released on Tuesday had 53 per cent saying they did not want the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito to stay in power.

Sunday’s snap election left the coalition short of a majority for the first time since 2009 – when it was booted out of power for three years – 18 seats short of the 233 needed. Mr Ishiba has already indicated he will attempt to govern a minority administration and seek approval from other parties to get legislation through parliament.

That expectation was reinforced late on Tuesday when the head of potential kingmaker the Democratic Party for the People, which has 28 seats, ruled out joining the LDP in a coalition government. “We will give all of our strength to achieve our policies and we will not join the ­coalition,” DPP chief Yuichiro Tamaki said.

However, Mr Ishiba is still courting other parties including the centrist DPP to secure parliamentary approval to remain Prime Minister in a vote reportedly slated for November 11.

To win their support, analysts said that Mr Ishiba may agree to tax cuts and stimulus spending that the DPP campaigned on.

Also likely seeking to become prime minister will be Yoshihiko Noda, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party, whose seat tally rose from 96 in the last election to 148. In a likely run-off vote, unseen for 30 years, whoever wins the most votes will become the next leader, even if the person does not have a majority.

“The DPP is in an extremely strong position and holds a ‘casting vote’ that can decide the direction of political momentum,” Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at Nomura Research Institute, said in a memo.

AFP