Japan Heads for Early Elections
According to local media, new LDP leader Shigeru Ishiba is ready to dissolve the chambers
Shigeru Ishiba, elected as the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) and therefore the designated prime minister, is ready to call new elections immediately.
According to Japanese media reports, Ishiba has already decided to dissolve the House of Representatives in October in order to call early elections, which could take place as early as the end of the month or at most in early November.
The LDP, with its ally New Komeito, has a majority in both houses, so Ishiba’s victory in the election that elected him party leader after Fumio Kishida’s resignation makes him the new prime minister (only a formal act is needed, which is due on October 1). Meanwhile, the new LDP leadership is being selected.
Ishiba explained that the election must be quick: “It is important that citizens appreciate the new administration as soon as possible.” The current legislature’s term expires in the fall of 2025, but its intention, analysts explain, will be to capitalize on the victory by winning a four-year mandate and not give the main opposition party, Yoshihiko Noda’s Constitutional Democratic Party, time to organize.
