Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida listens at the Quad leaders summit at Archmere Academy in Claymont, Del., on Sept. 21.Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press
Japan’s governing party on Friday picked former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba as its leader, setting him up to become prime minister next week.
The party leadership is a ticket to the top job because the Liberal Democratic Party’s governing coalition controls parliament.
Considered a defence policy expert, Ishiba secured a come-from-behind win against Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, a staunch conservative who hoped to become the country’s first female prime minister.
The LDP, which has enjoyed nearly unbroken rule since World War II, may have seen Ishiba’s more centrist views as crucial in pushing back challenges by the liberal-leaning opposition and winning voter support as the party reels from corruption scandals that drove down outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's popularity.
After his victory was announced, Ishiba stood up, waved and bowed repeatedly. “I will devote all my body and soul to making Japan a safe and secure country where everyone can live smiling,” he told lawmakers.
Ishiba is expected to call a general election to try to capitalize on his win, but it is unclear when.
Ishiba has proposed an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and a more equal Japan-U. S. security alliance, including having Japanese self-defence Force bases in the United States. He is a supporter of Taiwan’ s democracy. He also advocates the establishment of a disaster management agency in one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
Ishiba, first elected to parliament in 1986, has served as defence minister, agriculture minister and in other key Cabinet posts, and was LDP secretary general under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
But he has long been viewed with wariness by powerful conservatives in his party. The 67-year-old former banker was running in the party leadership race for a fifth time and had said this was going to be his “final battle.”
A hawk on defence issues, Ishiba has riled some party leaders by supporting measures to improve gaps between men and women and legalizing same-sex marriage.
A record nine lawmakers, including two women, ran in the vote decided by LDP members of parliament and about 1 million dues-paying party members. That’s only 1% of the country’s eligible voters.
Some experts believe that party turmoil could mean that Japan will return to an era similar to the early 2000s, which saw “revolving door” leadership changes and political instability.
A succession of short-lived governments hurts Japanese prime ministers’ ability to set up long-term policy goals or develop trusted relations with other leaders.
On Tuesday, Kishida and his Cabinet ministers will resign. Ishiba, after being formally elected in a parliamentary vote, will then form a new Cabinet later in the day.
Kishida congratulated Ishiba on his victory and said his election is the first step for a new LDP.
“The LDP will be reborn, and will live up to the people’s expectations and achieve results,” he said. As Japan faces security tensions in the region and elsewhere, Japan must step up its own defence power and its ties with the United States, he said.
The main opposition group, the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, has struggled to build momentum despite the LDP scandals. Experts say its newly elected leader, centrist former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, is pushing a conservative shift for the party to attract swing voters.