Who could become Japan's next prime minister?
No longer able to rely on the traditional vote-gathering power of factions within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, potential successors to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba are convening study groups and chairing parliamentary leagues in the hopes of raising their profiles and winning support for their ambitions after July's Upper House election.
The moves come as the Ishiba administration struggles with low approval ratings and growing concerns within the party that under Ishiba, the LDP will suffer great losses in the election, which would increase interparty pressure on him to step down.
The dissolution of most LDP factions last year — only former Prime Minister Taro Aso's faction formally remains — following a slush funds scandal, the loss of the LDP-Komeito coalition's Lower House majority in October's general election, and the need for any prime minister to seek alliances with other opposition parties to pass legislation in that chamber mean the bar is high for anyone seeking to unseat Ishiba, regardless of the outcome of the July poll.
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