Party pressure: Japan's Ishiba quits as PM and LDP chief after poll loss

Historic July election rout triggers leadership shake-up

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Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced Sunday that he will resign following growing calls from within his party to take responsibility for a historic defeat in July's parliamentary election.

Ishiba, who took office in October, said he was stepping down as prime minister and as the head of his conservative Liberal Democratic Party.

Ishiba, a 68-year-old moderate centrist, had resisted demands from opponents further to the right within his own party to resign. He argued that he wanted to avoid a political vacuum at a time when Japan faces key domestic and international challenges, including US tariffs, rising prices and growing tensions in the Asia-Pacific. Ishiba explained at a news conference Sunday night as he announced his resignation plans that he had intended for some time to take responsibility for his party's summer election loss, but was first determined to make progress in tariff negotiations with the United States. He described it as a matter of the national interest.

"Who would seriously negotiate with a government whose leader says he is stepping down?" Ishiba said.