Dissatisfaction with Ishiba surfaces within ruling LDP
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba
Tokyo (Jiji Press) — Dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has begun to surface within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as a sense of crisis is growing ahead of this summer’s election for the House of Councillors.
At Wednesday’s general meeting of the LDP’s Upper House members, Shoji Nishida said, “Under the current leadership, we can’t fight the Upper House election at all.” He claimed that the party should hold a leadership election after the fiscal 2025 budget bill is enacted.
“We could suffer a crushing defeat” if the current situation continues into the election, Nishida told reporters, adding that “there are many people who are thinking (about Ishiba’s resignation) in their minds.”
Distrust of Ishiba’s administration is growing, partly because the government has repeatedly revised its plan to raise the ceiling on out-of-pocket medical expenses, in response to criticism from patient groups, and eventually announced its cancellation on Friday, after the budget bill passed the House of Representatives.
The Ishiba administration has also not yet decided whether to submit a pension system reform bill, despite positioning it as one of its priorities in the current ordinary session of the Diet.
In addition, Ishiba called for unity in his speech at the LDP convention on Sunday, but the speech contained few new messages in the run-up to the Upper House election.
“I didn’t feel any message,” said former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, who ran against Ishiba in last year’s LDP leadership election.
The convention was shrouded in a “somewhat gloomy atmosphere,” said former LDP policy chief Sanae Takaichi, who was another rival of Ishiba in the party election.
A former member of the now-defunct LDP faction once led by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe showed sympathy for Nishida’s call for Ishiba’s resignation. “He said what everyone is thinking.”
Among conservative LDP lawmakers, including Kobayashi, Takaichi and former Abe faction members, there are concerns that Ishiba may accept the opposition’s request to introduce a selective dual surname system for married couples, as was the case during deliberations on the budget bill.
However, a senior LDP official has expressed a sense of discomfort with these party members, saying, “If they have time to demand (Ishiba’s) resignation, they should visit their constituencies.”
At present, many LDP members believe that it is not good for the prime minister to change frequently, according to a former member of the now-defunct faction led by former LDP-Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai.
As the LDP’s current predicament stems from a slush fund scandal involving former Abe faction members, including Nishida, a member of the faction led by former Prime Minister Taro Aso said, “How can (former) Abe faction members demand (Ishiba’s resignation)?”
Komeito, the LDP’s coalition partner, is distancing itself from calls for Ishiba’s resignation. “We should unite and overcome this difficult situation,” Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito said at a meeting with Ishiba on Wednesday. “We want to support the Ishiba administration.”
The prime minister replied, “I deeply appreciate that.”
