Japan parliament re-elects Shigeru Ishiba as PM in run-off vote

Japan’s Parliament on Monday voted for Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba to continue as Prime Minister after an election last month in which his ruling coalition lost its majority for the first time in more than a decade.
Mr Ishiba called the snap election on October 27 amid voter outrage over financial misconduct by his party and its lukewarm response. The LDP and it coalition partner Komeito won the biggest bloc of seats in the election but fell short of a majority in the 465-seat Lower House, the more powerful of Japan’s two parliamentary chambers.
Underlining the fragility of his position, the vote for a new government leader went to a run-off for the first time in 30 years, with Mr Ishiba prevailing over opposition leader Yoshihiko Noda by 221-160 in the second round of voting.
Mr Ishiba reappointed most of his previous Cabinet members, including Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, Defence Minister Gen Nakatani and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, but had to replace three who lost seats or were affected by the election results.
The immediate challenge facing Mr Ishiba’s minority government is to draw up a supplementary budget for the fiscal year to March amid pressure from voters and opposition parties to raise spending on welfare and counter rising prices. For approval he needs the backing of at least one opposition group, which is most likely to be the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), headed by Yuichiro Tamaki.
Mr Ishiba also has to prepare for a series of international engagements, including the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Peru on November 15 and 16 and the G20 summit in Brazil on November 18 and 19. He is also trying to arrange a stopover in the US to meet president-elect Donald Trump, who introduced protectionist trade measures against Japan during his first term from 2017-2021 and demanded that Tokyo contribute more towards the stationing of US soldiers there.
Mr Ishiba spoke to Mr Trump for the first time on Thursday in a “friendly” five-minute conversation during which he congratulated him on his election victory.