Shigeru Ishiba, Japanese Prime Minister and Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, at the party headquarters after the lower house elections, at the party headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday, October 27, 2024.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Japan's ruling coalition is set to lose its parliamentary majority, with National Public Broadcasting Corporation predicting that the Liberal Democratic Party and its Komeito partner will fall short of the 233 seats needed to win power in the country's lower house of parliament.
As of 3:45 a.m. local time on Sunday, NHK projected the ruling bloc would have 214 seats, with only one seat out of a total of 465 remaining to be counted. The opposition Constitutional Democratic Party and the Democratic Party for the People made significant gains.
The Nikkei Asia Index made a similar forecast, stating that this would cast uncertainty over the newly appointed administration of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. If the final results match expectations, this will be the first time since 2009 that the Liberal Democratic Party has lost its majority.
Ishiba of the Liberal Democratic Party succeeded Fumio Kishida as prime minister on October 1. He called a general election for September 30 after winning the party's internal elections against his rival, Sanae Takaishi. The LDP's election campaign was marred by concerns about inflation as well as corruption scandals that split the party.
Ishiba had pledged to ease the burden on families suffering from high living costs and demonstrated his intentions to promote rural revitalization, as rural Japan suffers from a broader demographic crisis and an aging population.
When the slush scandal came to light in 2023, four cabinet ministers were replaced, along with other senior party officials, with Kishida replacing four ministers.
