After a disastrous election, more troubles loom for Japan's LDP

The prospect of rainbow coalition governments and a return to short-term prime ministers seems a distinct possibility.

- Gearoid Reidy

In US politics, a Scaramucci has come to mean a unit of time lasting around 10 days, the length of Mr Anthony Scaramucci's term as White House director of communications.

Perhaps Japan is about to coin an Ishiba? Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that has dominated Japanese politics since the aftermath of World War II, might be counting his time in power in such limited terms.

Elected as leader just in September, Mr Ishiba had a simple task: use his purported popularity with the public to jazz up the LDP, which has been suffering from historic low ratings. Those were caused by a funding scandal, its ties to a cultish religion, and the impact on households of the return of inflation for the first time in a generation, as well as the dislike for Mr Ishiba's unpopular predecessor Fumio Kishida.

Instead, he has presided over one of the worst nights for the LDP in recent memory. The party has not only failed to secure a majority of seats for the first time since 2009, but will also not even be able to form a government together with long-term partner Komeito. After years of relative stability, Japanese politics is about to enter a shaky period. The prospect of rainbow coalition governments and a return to short-term prime ministers seems a distinct possibility.

How did this happen? Mr Ishiba was meant to be not just popular, but the most admired lawmaker within the LDP. His surprise come-from-behind victory in September's race to head the ruling party was a repudiation of over a decade of domination by the former faction of the late Mr Shinzo Abe, which was most implicated in the funding scandal.