Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida encountered a recent setback on Monday when his scandal-plagued ruling party lost three parliamentary seats in weekend by-elections.
According to results from local election authorities and media exit polls, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) under his leadership lost all three contested seats to the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the country’s largest opposition party.
The defeats occurred in Tokyo, Shimane, and Nagasaki and could potentially jeopardize Kishida’s position as party leader in an upcoming vote later this year. These losses followed a major kickback scandal involving political fundraising events that had rocked the LDP.
Sections of the LDP have acknowledged a systematic failure to report incomes from fundraisers over several years and distributing the funds among their members.
“We saw very serious consequences,” said LDP secretary general and Kishida’s right-hand man Toshimitsu Motegi on late Sunday, after exit polls showed that his party had lost.
“It may take a long time, but we will work hard to regain the voters’ trust,” he told reporters.
According to local media reports on Monday, the election defeats might embolden LDP lawmakers to attempt to oust Kishida when his tenure as party leader ends in September.
“The Kishida administration stands on the edge of a cliff after losing all supplementary elections,” the influential Nikkei business daily stated in an editorial.
The outcomes underscored “the LDP’s decline”, stated the top-selling conservative newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun.
Kyodo News suggested that the loss will “undermine Kishida’s political footing and prod LDP lawmakers to attempt to oust him from power before the next general election, making it unlikely he will run in the party’s presidential race around September”.
Nevertheless, the LDP-led ruling coalition maintains a secure legislative majority, and there is currently no evident alternative to promptly replace Kishida within the LDP ranks.
The LDP faced challenges leading up to the recent weekend election. Two of the seats were left vacant by lawmakers who were compelled to resign due to unrelated scandals.
The third seat became available following the passing of a Member of Parliament who also held a significant role in a party faction heavily implicated in the financial scandal.