Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba vows to stay on despite election debacle

Shigeru Ishiba

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed Monday to stay in office despite his gamble of snap elections backfiring, with his party's ruling coalition falling short of a majority for the first time since 2009.

Ishiba called Sunday's election days after taking office on October 1, but voters angry at a slush fund scandal punished his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed Japan almost non-stop since 1955.

Ishiba, 67, insisted on Monday he was staying put, saying he would not allow a "political vacuum" in the world's fourth-biggest economy.

He said the biggest election factor was "people's suspicion, mistrust and anger" after the party scandal, which helped sink his predecessor Fumio Kishida.

"I will enact fundamental reform regarding the issue of money and politics," Ishiba told reporters.

The yen hit a three-month low, sliding more than one percent against the dollar.

According to projections by national broadcaster NHK and other media, the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito missed Ishiba's stated goal of winning 233 seats -- a majority in the 456-member lower house.

The LDP won 191 seats, down from 259 at the last election in 2021, and Komeito 24, according to NHK's tallies. Official results were yet to be published.

"As long as our own lives don't improve, I think everyone has given up on the idea that we can expect anything from politicians," restaurant worker Masakazu Ikeuchi, 44, told AFP on Monday in rainy Tokyo.

On Monday, the LDP's election committee chief, former premier Junichiro Koizumi's son Shinjiro Koizumi, resigned to "take responsibility" for the outcome.

The most likely next step is that Ishiba will now seek to head a minority government, with the divided opposition probably incapable of forming a coalition of their own, analysts said.

Ishiba, who has 30 days to form a government, said Monday he was not considering a broader coalition "at this point".

A minority government will likely slow down the parliamentary process as Japan confronts a host of challenges from a falling population to a tense regional security environment.

It could also push figures within the LDP to try and unseat Ishiba.

"Lawmakers aligned with (former prime minister Shinzo) Abe were cold-shouldered under Ishiba, so they could potentially pounce on the opportunity to take their revenge," Yu Uchiyama, a political science professor at the University of Tokyo, told AFP.

"But at the same time, with the number of LDP seats reduced so much, they might take the high road and support Ishiba for now, thinking it's not the time for infighting," he said.