Shigeru Ishiba Retains Post as Japanese Prime Minister; Wins Runoff Against Head of Largest Opposition Party

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:43 JST, November 11, 2024

Shigeru Ishiba was elected Monday as the 103rd prime minister at a special Diet session, and the second Ishiba Cabinet was to be formed that evening.

Ishiba, the president of the Liberal Democratic Party, won a runoff against Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan President Yoshihiko Noda. Ishiba received 221 votes, while Noda got 160 votes. Eighty-four votes were invalid.

It was the first runoff election to choose a prime minister in the House of Representatives since 1994, when the LDP, the Japan Socialist Party and the New Party Sakigake formed a coalition government.

In the first round of voting, Ishiba earned 221 votes, falling short of the 233-vote majority required. He then ran against the leader of the largest opposition party, who won the second most with 151 votes in the first round.

Ishiba was expected to appoint Keisuke Suzuki, 47, a former state minister for foreign affairs, as justice minister. Suzuki was to be a replacement for Hideki Makihara, who failed to win a seat in the recent lower house election.

Likewise, Taku Eto, 64, was expected to succeed Yasuhiro Ozato as agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister after Ozato was not reelected. Eto has served as agricultural minister in the past.

Ishiba was expected to appoint Hiromasa Nakano, 46, a Komeito member of the lower house, to replace Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Tetsuo Saito, 72, who became the head of Komeito.

Ahead of the vote to choose the prime minister, the first Ishiba Cabinet resigned en masse at a Cabinet meeting on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, in the lower house plenary session held in the afternoon, Fukushiro Nukaga, 80, was retained as its speaker. Former Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, 60, of the CDPJ was chosen as vice speaker.

For the House of Councillors, Masakazu Sekiguchi was elected speaker at its plenary session in the morning. Sekiguchi, 71, is a former chairperson of the general assembly of the LDP’s upper house members.

Noda vows to unite opposition

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda on Monday pledged to unite the opposition parties, following Ishiba’s election as prime minister.

“I couldn’t unite the opposition parties. That was entirely my fault,” Noda said on an NHK news program. “We’ll hold sincere dialogue ahead of the upcoming upper house election … We’ll try to bring the opposition together.”