Japan PM Kishida to step down as scandals prove too much

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo on August 14, 2024. Kishida confirmed on August 14 that he will not seek re-election as head of his party next month, meaning the end of his premiership. PHILIP FONG/Pool via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he will step down in September, ending a three-year term marred by political scandals and paving the way for a new premier to address the impact of rising prices.
“Politics cannot function without public trust,” Kishida said in a press conference on Wednesday to announce his decision not to seek re-election as the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader.
“I will now focus on supporting the newly elected LDP leader as a rank-and-file member of the party,” he said.

His decision to quit triggers a contest to replace him as president of the party, and by extension as the leader of the world’s fourth-biggest economy.
Kishida’s public support has been sliding amid revelations about the LDP’s ties to the controversial Unification Church and political donations made at party fundraising events that went unrecorded.
But he also faced public discontent over the failure of wages to keep track with the rising cost of living as the country finally shook off years of deflationary pressure.

“An LDP incumbent prime minister cannot run in the presidential race unless he’s assured of a victory. It’s like the grand champion yokozunas of sumo. You don’t just win, but you need to win with grace,” said Koichi Nakano, political science professor at Sophia University.
Who ever succeeds Kishida as the head of the LDP will have to unite a fractious ruling group and tackle the rising cost of living, escalating geopolitical tensions with China, and the potential return of Donald Trump as U.S. president next year.
COVID TO INFLATION
As the country’s eighth-longest serving post-war leader, Kishida led Japan out of the COVID pandemic with massive stimulus spending. He also appointed Kazuo Ueda as head of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), an academic tasked with ending his predecessor’s radical monetary stimulus.
The BOJ in July unexpectedly raised interest rates as inflation took hold, contributing to stock market instability and sending the yen sharply lower.
Exit mobile version