Japan PM Kishida To Exit Party Leadership Race: Media

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida intends to drop out of the race to remain his party’s leader, local media reported Wednesday, meaning an expected end to his nearly three-year premiership.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan almost uninterrupted since 1945, is due to hold an internal leadership contest next month.

Kishida has informed senior administration officials of his intention not to run, media including national broadcaster NHK and Kyodo news reported.

Kishida was due to hold a news conference later on Wednesday, with a statement from his office saying he would speak at 11:30 am (0230 GMT).

Kishida, 67, has been in office since October 2021, and has seen his poll ratings slide sharply in response to rising prices hitting Japanese incomes.

His cabinet’s support rating has been languishing around 25 percent this year, according to an NHK poll.

The world’s fourth-largest economy has also struggled to gain traction, with output shrinking 0.7 percent in the first quarter.

In November, Kishida announced a stimulus package worth 17 trillion yen (more than $100 billion at the time) as he tried to ease the pressure from inflation and rescue his premiership.

Having seen prices barely move for years, Japanese voters have been reeling from rising prices since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, pushing up energy costs and putting pressure on the government.

Despite some recovery in recent weeks, the yen has been one of the world’s worst-performing currencies over the past year, falling sharply against the dollar.

While welcome news to Japanese exporters, this makes imports pricier and stokes inflation for households.

Even before November, the government had injected hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy over the past three years since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kishida, who has overseen improving relations with South Korea, could in theory govern until 2025, but there was speculation that he might call a snap election.

NHK reported that voices inside the LDP have been growing that the party won’t be able to fight elections under the Kishida government.

Kishida has also faced severe criticism over a major funding scandal within the party.

The prime minister “seems to have judged that he himself needs to take responsibility in order to dispel growing distrust,” NHK said.