Japan’s former Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba has won an internal election for the position of party chief and will therefore soon become the country’s new Prime Minister, Japanese media reported.
The election was held in two rounds following reports that incumbent PM Fumio Kishida had announced his refusal to run for a second term.
The nomination of Ishiba, 67, became known in August this year. Even then it was recognised that against the backdrop of falling ratings for the country’s incumbent leader, he was the most popular politician from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and so many political observers were betting that he would be elected to office.
The incumbent PM Fumio Kishida withdrew from the election because of the many scandals that have erupted in the LDP during his leadership years, from the party’s revelations of its ties to a totalitarian sect from South Korea, the Unification Church, to the misappropriation by party factions of private donations from party supporters.
Despite a string of resignations and other disciplinary measures, Kishida’s cabinet rating continued to fall, dropping to 15.5 per cent in July, the lowest since 2012 when the LDP returned to power. In August, Kishida announced his resignation as head of state. the politician explained:
“The first and most obvious step that will show that the Liberal Democratic Party is changing is my resignation.”
Who is Shigeru Ishiba?
Shigeru Ishiba is one of the most experienced politicians in the LDP, having managed to change several government posts: Defence Minister (2007-2008), Agriculture Minister (2008-2009) and Minister for combating population decline and reviving the local economy (2014-2016).
Ishiba’s political career has been greatly aided by his background: his father Jiro Ishiba rose from deputy Minister of construction to head of the Interior Ministry. In 1979, Shigeru Ishiba graduated from the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo and started working at Mitsui Bank, but four years later he entered politics and got a job as a secretary in one of the LDP factions.
Since the 1990s, the politician has been actively immersed in defence issues, earning him the nickname “gunji otaku” – “military obsessed.” Ishiba attributed his interest to the Gulf War of 1990-1991, when the LDP attempted to pass through parliament a law that would have allowed the government to send ships to provide logistics to allies fighting in the Gulf War. The ruling party failed, and Japanese minesweepers were already sent to the region after the active phase of fighting ended. Ishiba recounted:
“The way politicians, officials, academics and the entire Japanese people were at a complete loss, not knowing what to do, was an incredible shock to me. It was as if no one had ever thought before about how Japan should react in such a situation.”
Since then, he has consistently advocated the expansion of the Japan Self-Defence Forces and the revision of the pacifist provisions of the post-war Constitution, earning him a reputation as a hawk.
From 2002 to 2004, he headed the National Defence Directorate (the predecessor of the Ministry of Defence, which was only formed in 2007). In this position, Ishiba became one of the key drivers of the transformation of Japan’s Self-Defence Forces, researcher Adam Liff said. The official oversaw the successful launch of Japan’s first reconnaissance satellite and the joint development of SM-3 Block IIA ballistic missiles with the US, as well as facilitated the first-ever deployment of Japanese military personnel overseas without UN Security Council authorisation – to Iraq in 2003.
This is Ishiba’s fifth election as chairman of the LDP, having run unsuccessfully in 2008, 2012, 2018 and 2020. Each time, the politician has been one of the most popular candidates among the Japanese population, but he has failed to gain sufficient support among his own party members time after time. Announcing another run for the leadership post at the end of August 2024, Ishiba promised that this attempt would be his last one.
