Shigeru Ishiba<\/a> said on Sunday he had decided to resign, ushering in a potentially lengthy period of policy paralysis at a shaky moment for the world\u2019s fourth-largest economy.\n <\/p>\n\n Ishiba, 68, instructed his Liberal Democratic Party \u2013 which has governed Japan for almost all of the post-war era – to hold an emergency leadership race, he told a press conference, adding he would continue his duties until his successor was elected.\n <\/p>\n
\n Since coming to power less than a year ago, Ishiba has overseen his ruling coalition lose its majorities in elections for both houses of parliament amid voter anger over rising living costs.\n <\/p>\n
\n Until Sunday, he had refused calls to step down following the latest of those losses in July\u2019s upper house vote. He had focused instead on ironing out details of a trade deal with the United States on President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs, which have roiled Japan\u2019s critical automotive industry and cast a shadow over weak growth.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWith Japan having signed the trade agreement and the president having signed the executive order, we have passed a key hurdle,\u201d Ishiba said, his voice seeming to catch with emotion. \u201cI would like to pass the baton to the next generation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Concern over political uncertainty led to a sell-off in Japan\u2019s yen currency and its government bonds last week, with the yield on the 30-year bond hitting a record high on Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n
\n Speculation over Ishiba\u2019s fate was stoked by the LDP\u2019s decision to schedule a vote for Monday on whether to hold an extraordinary leadership election.\n <\/p>\n
\n While a fresh leadership race could add pain for an economy hit by U.S. tariffs, markets are focusing more on the chance of Ishiba being replaced by an advocate of looser fiscal and monetary policy, such as LDP veteran Sanae Takaichi, who has criticised the Bank of Japan\u2019s interest rate hikes.\n <\/p>\n
\n Ishiba narrowly defeated Takaichi in last year\u2019s LDP leadership run-off. Shinjiro Koizumi, the telegenic political scion who has gained prominence as Ishiba\u2019s farm minister tasked with trying to cap soaring prices, is another possible successor.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cGiven the political pressure mounting on Ishiba after the LDP\u2019s repeated election losses, his resignation was inevitable,\u201d said Kazutaka Maeda, economist at Meiji Yasuda Research Institute.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAs for potential successors, Koizumi and Takaichi are seen as the most likely candidates. While Koizumi is not expected to bring major changes, Takaichi\u2019s stance on expansionary fiscal policy and her cautious approach to interest rate hikes could draw scrutiny from financial markets,\u201d Maeda said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Since the party does not have a majority in either house, it is not guaranteed that the next LDP president will become prime minister.\n <\/p>\n
\n Whoever becomes the next leader may choose to call a snap election to seek a mandate, analysts said. While Japan\u2019s opposition remains fractured, the far-right, anti-immigration Sanseito party made big gains in July\u2019s upper house election, bringing once-fringe ideas into the political mainstream.\n <\/p>\n
\n Nearly 55% of respondents to a poll by Kyodo news agency published on Sunday said there was no need to hold an early election.\n <\/p>\n
\n Ishiba\u2019s last act as premier will have been to finalize the trade deal with the United States last week, under which Japan pledged $550 billion of investments in return for lower tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link Reuters \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Sunday he had decided to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":207304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,50,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-207303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115162389087531540","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}