Japan PM Kishida To Step Down

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to quit after announcing on Wednesday he will not seek re-election as party chief.

Addressing reporters in Tokyo, Kishida said it is necessary to show the people that the LDP is changing and the party is a new LDP. He said for this, transparent and open elections and free and vigorous debate are important, adding that the obvious first step to show that the LDP will change is for him to step aside.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed almost uninterrupted since 1945, is due to hold a leadership contest next month, with the winner to become prime minister.

Sixty-seven year old Kishida who has been in office since October 2021, has seen his and his party’s poll ratings slide sharply in response to rising prices hitting Japanese incomes and several scandals

In November, Kishida announced a stimulus package worth 17 trillion yen as he tried to ease the pressure from inflation and rescue his premiership. But this failed to make him any less unpopular, both among voters in the world’s fourth-largest economy and within his own party.

Along with inflation – for Japanese voters an unfamiliar and unwelcome phenomenon – growth has spluttered, shrinking 0.7 percent in the first quarter.

Despite some recovery in recent weeks, the yen has been one of the world’s worst-performing currencies, making life easier for exporters but pushing up import prices.

Kishida could in theory have governed until 2025, and there had been speculation he might call a snap election to shore up his position. But NHK reported that growing voices inside the LDP believed it would fare badly in elections under Kishida. In April, the party lost three by-elections.

Kishida, who last year escaped a pipe-bomb attack unscathed, has also faced severe criticism over a major kickbacks scandal linked to fundraising parties. However, News Analysts say he decided to jump because he knew he would lose the leadership battle.

Kishida has sided decisively with Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, welcoming President Volodymyr Zelensky to a G7 summit in Hiroshima and visiting Kyiv.

Under Kishida, Japan also pledged to double its defence spending to the NATO standard of two percent of GDP by 2027.