In Japan, the strange resurgence of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's popularity
Despite setbacks in the last two national elections, the current head of government is clinging to power, benefiting from unexpected public support. Ishiba seems so far to have been spared the political and financial scandal that has tarnished some conservative members of his party, according to the Japanese press.
After the Senate elections of July 20, in which the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) suffered a resounding defeat and lost its majority, the fate of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba seemed sealed. With the party also defeated in the October legislative elections , Yomiuri Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun , two of the country's national newspapers, were betting on his resignation. "The Prime Minister is leaving," the former even insisted in a special issue.
The man immediately denied the reports, but his resignation seemed inevitable. Having lost two consecutive national elections, “it is natural for him to leave his post,” political scientist and former Tokyo governor Yoichi Masuzoe said in an article published on JB Press .
Some members of Ishiba's own party, criticizing his positions as too centrist and which have made him their "bête noire," have even mobilized to push him out. In early August, a group of conservative parliamentarians handed him a letter demanding his departure, reports national broadcaster NHK . "If he stays in power when the Japanese have clearly said no, it would be an incomprehensible decision even for a kid , " one of them said, according to the broadcaster.
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