For the LDP, when it is the ruling party, the party president naturally assumes the position of prime minister. Therefore, Mr. Kishida, who has been the Japanese Prime Minister for 3 years, resigned as LDP president to pave the way for the party to elect a new party president.
Mr. Ishiba was elected as the new Prime Minister of Japan on October 1. The ruling coalition of the LDP party currently holds the majority in the parliament, so the election of Mr. Ishiba as Prime Minister of Japan will certainly not encounter any obstacles.
Mr. Kishida has achieved many successes in his reign, especially in security and foreign affairs, but the high cost of living for the people, high inflation, weak Yen, and many half-hearted political and social reforms have significantly reduced Mr. Kishida's credibility and popularity among Japanese voters.
The next regular parliamentary election will be in 2025. The risk of the LDP losing its majority in the next parliamentary election is increasingly looming. Mr. Kishida must leave so that the LDP can build a new image and create a sense of opening a new era for Japan. Only then can the LDP turn around the current situation and maintain its chances of defending its majority in the upcoming election.
The mission of opening this new era is now assigned to Mr. Ishiba by the LDP. He was the Minister of National Defense, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and then Secretary General of the LDP when Mr. Shinzo Abe was the President of the LDP and Prime Minister of Japan. This political background is enough to help Mr. Ishiba now be considered a veteran and a big tree in the LDP.
However, Mr. Ishiba still has radical views on many policy contents, especially the views supporting green energy and abandoning the use of nuclear energy.
Mr. Ishiba defeated eight other political rivals (including two women) in the recent contest to become LDP president. Mr. Ishiba won the votes of a majority of the 357 LDP members in the current parliament and 357 other members.
The LDP has changed leadership. Whether this new leader will usher in a new era for the party and Japan is an unanswerable question. Mr. Ishiba has made up his mind. The big challenges are to lift Japan out of deflation and increase real incomes, to deal with the problem of population decline and to increase the capacity to respond to natural disasters.
Regarding security and defense, Mr. Ishiba pursues a policy stance that is even more tough and drastic than Mr. Kishida. It is not impossible that Mr. Ishiba will hold an early general election to legitimize executive power through voters' votes. Whether the new era is truly new and how new it is will be determined in the next episode.
