The new Prime Minister Ishiba calls early elections for October 27th – DW – September 30, 2024

Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced on Monday that he would call a general election for October 27.

The early elections are scheduled to take place a year earlier and 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 told a news conference.

The former defense minister narrowly won the race for leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) against right-winger Sanae Takaichi last week. He is due to be officially appointed prime minister on Tuesday.

The Japanese yen and government bonds rose after Ishiba won the party leadership vote. However, early trading in Japanese stocks on Monday showed a decline of more than 4%.

Ishiba’s new government

Ishiba on Monday began selecting the government and party officials who will contest the election with him.

His close ally Takeshi Iwaya will take over as foreign minister, General Nakatani will return to the defense ministry and Yoji Muto will look after economy, trade and industry, unnamed sources told Reuters.

Ishiba, 67, enjoys the strong support of several party members. However, he is also known to have opposed party politics and was a harsh critic of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022.

Under outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the LDP’s poll numbers fell sharply due to scandals and rising prices.

Ishiba has promised to restore people’s trust in the ruling party. He has promised to increase defense spending and build closer ties with the United States amid aggression from China and North Korea.

“He doesn’t seem so interested in measures to boost economic growth, although the most important thing for Japan is low growth rather than healthy financial conditions,” Taro Saito, senior economist at the NLI Research Institute, told AFP.

tg/nm (AFP, AP, Reuters)