Facing a collapse of support from both his party and the public, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has announced his resignation. The move comes as his cabinet’s approval rating sank to a new low and his own MPs prepared to remove him from office.
Ishiba’s leadership was fatally wounded by two national election losses that cost his coalition its majorities in parliament. These defeats were a clear vote of no confidence from the electorate. A recent poll confirmed this, showing his cabinet’s approval had fallen to just 32.7%.
This lack of public support fueled a loss of confidence within the Liberal Democratic Party. His colleagues saw him as an electoral liability and concluded that the party could not recover with him at the helm.
His resignation is the inevitable result of this evaporated support. The LDP will now seek a new leader in October who they hope can regain the trust of both the party’s rank-and-file members and the wider Japanese public.