Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced on Sunday that he will resign as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) after coming under sustained pressure to take responsibility for his party’s poor showing in July’s upper house election. He said he will remain in office as prime minister until the LDP elects a new leader.
Ishiba, speaking at a 6 p.m. local press conference in Tokyo, said he had asked the party’s general secretary to begin organising a leadership election immediately and that he had decided “this is the right timing” to step down. He told reporters he had reached agreement on measures to alleviate U.S. tariffs on some Japanese imports and cited progress in the U.S.-Japan relationship as a factor in his decision to hand over the party leadership now.
The announcement followed weeks of mounting calls from within the LDP — largely from its conservative wing — for him to resign after the coalition of the LDP and its junior partner Komeito fell short of the 50 seats it needed to retain control of the 248-seat upper chamber, winning 47 seats instead. The result further eroded the coalition’s parliamentary position and handed gains to smaller far-right nationalist parties.
Ishiba acknowledged responsibility for the election outcome and said he had resisted internal pressure for more than a month but ultimately decided to step aside to avoid a deeper split within the party. He warned that an erosion of trust in the country’s moderate conservative party risked driving Japanese politics “towards popularism.”
The coalition’s loss of an upper house majority in July has complicated the government’s ability to pass legislation, forcing the administration to seek support from opposition parties on key measures. Ishiba’s decision to call a leadership contest comes a day before the LDP had been due to decide whether to hold an early party election — a move that would have amounted to a virtual no-confidence motion against him.
Ishiba, who won the LDP leadership on his fifth attempt in September and took office in October, positioned himself as a steady hand on defence and regional revitalisation. He campaigned on addressing long-term demographic challenges and pledged to revitalise depressed rural areas. Within months of taking office, however, he called a lower house election that critics say backfired, producing the party’s worst result in 15 years and further weakening the coalition’s grip on parliament.
Domestically, his tenure drew scrutiny for a number of personnel and political decisions. He appointed only two women to his cabinet, down from five under his predecessor, and his administration faced criticism over policy responses to economic pressures such as a weak yen and rising prices for staples including rice. Ishiba said his government had worked to help “those who are suffering” amid those economic challenges.
Ishiba’s leadership style and personal profile have been widely discussed in Japanese media. A self-described defence “geek,” he is the son of a regional governor and is part of Japan’s small Christian minority. He has been portrayed as a political veteran and was viewed by some as a safe, experienced choice for the LDP. At the same time, social media and televised moments — including footage of him appearing to nap in parliament, failing to rise to greet other leaders at an international gathering and a widely circulated clip of him eating an onigiri without closing his mouth — drew public attention and occasional ridicule.
Internationally, Ishiba cited regular contacts with U.S. President Donald Trump and said the US-Japan alliance was “making progress,” stressing the importance of maintaining close ties with the United States. He said it was “a pity” to step down while diplomatic work remained, but pledged to pass the baton to a successor and to continue working as prime minister until the party completes its leadership selection.
The LDP and Komeito will now move to set a timetable for the party leadership vote. Under party rules, the general secretary’s call to organise the contest is the formal start of the process; party officials said Ishiba had asked that the election be held as soon as practicable. The outcome will determine who leads the country into the coming months of parliamentary maneuvering and policy negotiations, as a governing coalition without an upper house majority seeks to restore legislative stability.
Ishiba’s resignation as party leader will mark another change in a series of relatively short-lived administrations in Japan: he became the LDP’s 10th separate prime minister since 2000, a span that reflects frequent leadership turnover within the party. The incoming leader will inherit an immediate parliamentary test and the task of rebuilding voter trust ahead of future elections.