Japan's ruling party picks next prime minister

Japanese prime minister-elect Shigeru Ishiba

Polls show Shigeru Ishiba is 'popular with the public because of his willingness to criticize his party and its elders'

(Image credit: Toru Hanai / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

published 27 September 2024

What happened

Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba beat eight candidates to become leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a party vote Thursday, putting him on track to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida next Tuesday.

Ishiba edged out the more conservative Sanae Takaichi, one of the two women in the historically broad leadership race, 215 to 194 in the runoff vote by LDP lawmakers and rank-and-file members. The "elite power brokers" of the LDP "appeared to take public sentiment into account" when choosing Ishiba, The New York Times said. Polls show he is "popular with the public because of his willingness to criticize his party and its elders," The Washington Post said, "but he is largely disliked among his colleagues for the same reason."

Making his fifth run for party leader, Ishiba pledged to revitalize rural areas to boost the world's fourth-largest economy and "proposed an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and a more equal Japan-U.S. security alliance," The Associated Press said.

Kishida announced his resignation last month amid low poll numbers tied to high inflation and a string of party finance scandals. Most Japanese voters say they are "eager for new faces and new ideas" in a country where "people over 50 and hereditary politicians have long called the shots," the Post said. Ishiba, 67, is the son of a former Cabinet minister and has been in office since 1986. Still, the Times said, "voters have shown little inclination to vote the party out of power" after 69 years of almost unbroken rule.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.