Japan PM Ishiba Quits Amid Party Revolt
- By Thetripurapost Web Desk, Tokyo
- Sep 07, 2025
- 678
In a stunning political collapse, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has told senior aides he is stepping down as leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), sources confirmed to this newspaper late Sunday.
The decision follows weeks of escalating pressure inside the party after July’s upper house election rout, which saw the LDP-Komeito coalition stripped of its majority, a humiliation that many within the party blamed squarely on Ishiba’s leadership.
According to insiders, Ishiba made his choice after receiving direct warnings from faction bosses that his position had become untenable. “He realized fighting on would only split the party,” a senior LDP lawmaker said.
The 68-year-old, who took office less than a year ago after five failed bids for the top job, had until now resisted resigning, dismissing rivals’ moves as opportunistic. But with a no-confidence-style leadership vote looming on Monday, Ishiba moved first — pre-empting a public humiliation.
Behind the scenes, the tipping point reportedly came last week when key Komeito allies signaled they would back new LDP leadership, effectively isolating Ishiba inside the coalition.
His downfall caps a turbulent tenure marked by plummeting approval ratings, surging food prices — with rice costs doubling in a year — and a string of electoral setbacks. Once hailed as a “safe pair of hands” and a defense policy heavyweight, Ishiba’s gamble on snap lower house elections in October 2024 backfired disastrously, costing the coalition its majority in the more powerful chamber.
LDP officials are now scrambling to set the terms for a leadership contest that will also decide Japan’s next prime minister. Potential successors are already maneuvering, with factional heavyweights sensing a rare opening at the top.
“This is not just about Ishiba,” one veteran lawmaker told this paper. “It’s about whether the LDP can hold together after two consecutive electoral defeats.”
For now, Ishiba’s resignation marks one of the swiftest and most bruising political falls in modern Japanese history — and throws the world’s third-largest economy back into uncertainty.