Japan's PM resigns and calls for new leadership election

Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba has announced his decision to step down, less than two months after his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost its majority in the country's upper house election.

- ADAM WITHNALL

Mr Ishiba has been in power for less than a year, but faced calls to resign from the right-wing faction of his own party after a bruising defeat in July’s vote, amid discontent from the public over the rising cost of living and economic stagnation.

The conservative LDP and its junior partner Komeito needed to win 50 seats to retain control of the upper chamber but took 47, as the coalition saw its vote eroded by an increase in support for far-right nationalist parties.

Mr Ishiba called a press conference at 6pm local time (10am BST) yesterday in Tokyo, where he said he intended to resign as LDP president and would stay on as prime minister until a new leader is elected.

He said that he had decided “this is the right timing” to step down, having agreed a deal to alleviate US tariffs on Japanese imports. He said he had asked the LDP’s general secretary to begin organising a party leadership election immediately.

A former defence minister, Mr Ishiba came to power last October as the face of the LDP’s moderate faction. He then called a snap general election, hoping to cash in on public backing during his honeymoon period. Instead, his party lost its majority, throwing the country into the kind of political uncertainty not seen for many years.

Mr Ishiba’s decision to resign came one day before the LDP was due to meet to decide whether to hold a special leadership election - effectively a no-confidence vote in his administration. In recent days, polls of LDP parliamentarians and regional representatives had shifted significantly against Mr Ishiba. Of those contacted by the Yomiuri