Japan’s prime minister announces he will leave parliament, paving the way for a new leader

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a surprise move Wednesday, announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, paving the way for Japan to have a new prime minister.

Kishida was elected president of his governing Liberal Democratic Party and became prime minister in 2021. His three-year term expires in September and whoever wins the party vote will succeed him as prime minister because the LDP controls both houses of parliament. A new face is a chance for the party to show that it’s changing for the better, and Kishida said he will support the new leader.

“We need to clearly show an LDP reborn,” Kishida told a news conference Wednesday. “In order to show a changing LDP, the most obvious first step is for me to bow out.”

“I will not run for the upcoming party leadership election,” he said.

Stung by his party’s corruption scandals, Kishida has suffered dwindling support ratings that have dipped below 20%.

Regaining public trust in politics is crucial for tackling difficult situations in and outside Japan, Kishida said. He called on aspiring party lawmakers to run for leadership and hold active policy debates during the campaign.

“Once a new leader is decided, I hope to see everyone unite and form a dream team to achieve politics that can gain public understanding,” he said.

Kishida said he has been mulling his possible resignation for some time but waited until he could put his key policies on track, including an energy policy that calls for a return to nuclear power, a drastic military buildup to deal with security threats in the region, and improving ties with South Korea, as well as political reforms.

The U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, praised Kishida’s effort in elevating U.S.-Japan alliance to a new level by working closely with President Joe Biden especially in security, while developing separate trilaterals, one with South Korea and another with the Philippines, in the face of China’s growing influence. Biden and Kishida “literally wrote the organizing chapter of the next era,” he said.

But the leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, Kenta Izumi, said Kishida may have given up on pursuing party reforms and the probe into the corruption scandals.

“Whenever the party is in crisis, LDP, for its own survival, has repeatedly changed prime minister and party leader to reset and have voters forget the past,” Izumi said. “It’s their strategy and people should not be tricked by it.”

A number of senior LDP lawmakers are considered potential candidates, including Kishida’s rival and party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi and former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a favorite among voters. Three others who challenged Kishida in the 2021 vote — Digital Minister Taro Kono, Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi and former Gender Equality Minister Seiko Noda — are also considered potential contenders.

A winner will replace Kishida as party president, and will be endorsed as the new prime minister in a parliamentary vote soon after. LDP executives are set to decide next week on the date for the party election, expected sometime between Sept. 20 and Sept. 29.

Since the corruption scandal broke, Kishida has removed a number of Cabinet ministers and others from party executive posts, dissolved most party factions that were criticized as the source of money-for-favor politics, and tightened a political funds control law. Ten people — lawmakers and their aides — were indicted in January.

Despite Kishida’s efforts, support for his government dwindled.

Local election losses earlier in the year eroded his clout, and LDP lawmakers have voiced the need for a fresh face ahead of the next general election, which could be held any time by October, 2025. Major losses in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly by elections in July also added to the push.

The scandal centers on unreported political funds raised through tickets sold for party events. It involved more than 80 LDP lawmakers, mostly belonging to a major party faction previously led by assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The assassination surfaced a scandal over the LDP’s decades-old, deep-rooted ties with the Unification Church, for which Kishida has also faced criticism.