Latest news with #自民党
Associated Press
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Minority government of Japan PM faces tough test in upper house election; AP explains
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's goal is a simple majority. Half of the 248 seats for six-year terms in the upper house are being decided, and the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito would need to win 50 combined. That's on top of their 75 seats that are not being contested in this election. That would be a retreat from their current number of 141 seats, but Ishiba has told reporters his goal is one that must be achieved.
South China Morning Post
21-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Can Japan's Ishiba weather political storm after rice remark buries farm minister?
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba accepted the resignation of his agriculture minister on Wednesday over a tone-deaf remark about rice donations – a political blunder that analysts say could further erode public trust in his leadership ahead of two make-or-break elections this summer. Taku Eto stepped down less than 24 hours after Ishiba insisted he would not dismiss him, following public outcry over comments in which the minister boasted that he never needed to buy rice because supporters regularly sent him sacks of it. The gaffe , made during a speech in Saga city on Sunday, drew fierce criticism at a time when Japanese households are grappling with rice shortages and soaring prices. Critics said the remark illustrated how out of touch the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had become, as families across the country ration a staple many now find increasingly unaffordable Japanese agriculture minister Taku Eto enters Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's office in Tokyo on Wednesday to tender his resignation. Photo: Kyodo The resignation adds to a string of political headaches for Ishiba, whose approval rating is tumbling amid economic anxiety, diplomatic tensions and growing divisions within his own party.
