Japan’s unpopular Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Wednesday that he plans to withdraw from the race to lead his party in September, meaning he will step down as head of government.
“In this election for the presidency [du parti]it is necessary to show the people that the PLD [le Parti libéral-démocrate au pouvoir] is changing. The most obvious first step to [le] “The only thing I can show is that I am stepping down. I will not run in the next election for the party presidency,” Kishida said at a news conference.
“I took this difficult decision with the firm conviction that politics is possible only with the trust of the people and that we will move forward with political reform,” he added.
The LDP, which has been in power in Japan almost without interruption since 1945, must organize an internal election in September to designate its leader, and therefore the person who will assume the functions of prime minister.
Fumio Kishida, 67, has been in office since October 2021 and has seen his popularity ratings plummet, severely weakened by inflation and political and financial scandals affecting the LDP.
His government’s approval rating has stagnated at around 25 percent this year, according to a poll by public broadcaster NHK.
Koichi Nakano, a professor of political science at Sophia University, told AFP that Kishida made the decision because he had no certainty of winning the election.
“He has failed to close ranks” within his party, according to Mr. Nakano, who nevertheless points out that “for a leader of the LDP, staying in power for three years is longer than average.”
In the ranking of the longevity of the 35 prime ministers since World War II, Kishida comes in eighth.
Unpopular
The world’s fourth largest economy is struggling to get back on track after the COVID period, with, for example, a GDP down 0.7% in the first quarter of 2024.
Last November, Mr. Kishida announced a 17 trillion yen (more than 158 billion Canadian dollars) stimulus package as he sought to reduce inflation pressure.
Having seen prices stagnate for years, the Japanese have been unhappy with their rise since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, sending energy costs soaring.
Despite some recovery in recent weeks, the yen has been one of the world’s worst performing currencies over the past year, falling sharply against the dollar.
While this is mostly good news for Japanese exporters, it makes imports more expensive and fuels inflation.
Furthermore, his conservative right-wing party has been affected for months by a scandal linked to political financing.
At the heart of the case are alleged payments to party members accused of exceeding ticket sales quotas for fundraisers.
From the moment he came to power, Mr. Kishida appeared as a compromise choice for the LDP. This elected representative from Hiroshima (west) in the Lower House since 1993 — like his father and grandfather before him — cultivates a spirit of consensus in the absence of convincing charisma.
As he led only a small, moderate parliamentary faction of the LDP, he constantly had to give pledges to other, more powerful currents of his party, notably its ultranationalist wing, which was controlled by his former mentor and ex-prime minister Shinzo Abe, until his assassination in 2022.
Undecided succession
This decision by Fumio Kishida to leave the head of the party and therefore the government, launches the race for his succession, which looks set to be uncertain.
Prior to the announcement, several figures had been mentioned as possible successors to Kishida, including Digital Affairs Minister Taro Kono and Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi.
The daily life Yomiuri Shimbun reported that some LDP members had high hopes for Shigeru Ishiba, the party’s former number two, and Shinjiro Koizumi, a former environment minister and son of former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi.
“In this election for the presidency, I hope that those who believe they have the required qualifications will actively raise their hands and engage in a serious debate,” Fumio Kishida said.