The new Japanese prime minister is calling for early elections in October

Just three days after being elected as the new leader of Japan’s ruling party, new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has announced plans for a snap election on October 27.

Ishiba, 67, replaced outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Friday after receiving more votes than any of the other eight candidates in a close race.

Since the LDP has a parliamentary majority, Ishiba will be confirmed as prime minister by parliament on Tuesday.

But the former defense minister has already dissolved the House of Representatives and set an election date more than a year before the actual election.

The poll will decide which party controls the lower house of parliament.

“It is important that the new government is judged by the people as quickly as possible,” Ishiba said at a news conference in Tokyo on Monday, according to Reuters.

Earlier in the day, he began selecting government and party officials to run with him in the upcoming general election, including two influential former prime ministers: Taro Aso as an adviser and Yoshihide Suga as vice president.

Ishiba also asked Shinjiro Koizumi, a popular rival in Friday’s leadership race who has a good reputation among the Japanese public, to serve as election strategy chief.

However, Sanae Takaichi, the conservative hardliner who narrowly beat Ishiba in Friday’s election runoff, was not included in Ishiba’s selection.

After winning the leadership election on Friday, Ishiba said he would revive Japan’s economy, address security threats and clean up the LDP, whose approval ratings have plummeted in recent months due to public scandals and internal conflicts.

Chief among these scandals are revelations about the extent of influence the controversial Japanese Unification Church wields within the LDP, as well as suspicions that party factions have under-reported political funding for several years.

The latter controversy sparked widespread public outrage and damaged then-Prime Minister Kishida’s political reputation, leading to his announcement in August that he would not seek re-election as LDP leader.

“In the upcoming presidential election [for the LDP]“It is necessary to show people that the party will change,” Kishida said at a news conference last month as he announced his decision not to run for another term.

“Transparent and open elections as well as a free and lively debate are important for this.”

Shortly after taking over on Friday, Ishida echoed his predecessor’s words.

“We should be a party that allows its members to freely and openly discuss the truth, a party that is fair and impartial in all matters and a party with humility,” he told reporters.

Despite the scandals, the LDP, which ruled Japan for most of the postwar period, remains the country’s most popular political party.

The last two weeks of the party leadership campaign were also seen by experts as auditions for the parliamentary elections – that is, candidates introduced themselves not only to their party colleagues, but also to the public in order to win over the electorate.