Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a press conference at the headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, the day after the prime minister’s coalition lost its upper house majority. Photo by Philip Fong/EPA
Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and his Liberal Democratic Party were projected to lose their majority coalition government in Japan’s Upper House of Parliament on Monday, according to reports that show gains made by a far-right, populist party.
The election was held Sunday, when 125 of the 248 Upper House seats were up for election to a six year term.
Preliminary results on Monday showed LDP and its Komeito coalition party had won 47 seats, three shy of the minimum 50 required for the coalition to maintain its majority, The Asahi Shimbun reported. Together, LDP and Komeito had a total of 75 uncontested seats.
The coalition also lost 19 seats from what they had prior to the vote.
The election also comes on the heels of the LDP coalition losing its majority in the lower house in October, meaning this will be the first time in the party’s 70-year history that it has led a coalition government without holding a majority in either house.
The upset comes as the LDP struggles to overcome public distrust following a major corruption scandal involving millions in campaign financing slush funds and the rising cost of living in the Asian nation.
Meanwhile, the center-right Democratic Party for the People gained 17 seats. And Japan’s far-right Sanseito Party with its “Japanese First” motto — which is characterized as the Japanese version of the United States’ Make America Great Again movement — earned 14 seats, up from one before the election.
The gains for Sanseito make it a more significant party in parliament, and it can now submit a bill without a budget attached.
Despite the loss, Ishiba vowed during a Monday press conference that he would remain head of state and head of the LDP, public broadcaster NHK reported.
“It is extremely regrettable that many of our capable colleagues from the LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, have los their seats,” he said. “As president of the Liberal Democratic Party, I offer my sincere apologies.”
As a lesson from the election, he remarked, “We must listen carefully to the voices of the people and fulfill our responsibility as the leading party in the Upper House, as well as our responsibility to the people of the country to prevent politics from becoming stalled, or from falling into disarray.”
