Japan’s ruling coalition loses majority in blow to new PM Ishiba
Al Jazeera
The outcome is a serious blow for PM Ishiba as his Liberal Democratic Party suffers its worst result in 15 years.
Japan’s ruling coalition has lost its parliamentary majority in a significant defeat at Sunday’s national election, raising uncertainty about the next government’s make-up and the outlook for the world’s fourth-largest economy.
With all but 20 of the 465 seats accounted for, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has ruled Japan for almost all of its post-war history, and junior coalition partner Komeito took 209 seats in the lower house of parliament, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.
That was down from the 279 seats they previously held, marking the coalition’s worst election result since briefly losing power in 2009.
“This election has been very tough for us,” a sombre-looking Ishiba told TV Tokyo.
Keiichi Ishii, who became the new leader of Komeito- the LDP’s long-term coalition partner – lost in his district last month.
