Shigeru Ishibaʼs future as Japanʼs top leader hangs in balance as parliament gets ready for a make-or-break vote on nov-11. The newly-minted prime-minister (who took office just last month) faces an uphill battle after his partyʼs unexpected election setback
The Liberal-Democratic Party and its partner Komeito dont have the numbers they used to have since losing their firm grip on power in late-october. While still being the biggest group in parliament‚ they need help from others to run things properly. The Democratic Party for the People has become an unexpected power-broker; saying theyll support some ideas but wont join fully
Yuichiro Tamaki the DPP leader made things clear on friday: “We wont back Ishiba in mondays vote“. Meanwhile Tamaki has his own problems to deal with after a personal scandal came to light
The next few months look pretty busy for the government:
- Making a new money-plan for rising costs
- Going to G20 meeting in Brazil
- Meeting with US about trade stuff
- Dealing with China-North Korea issues
Yoshihiko Noda from the Constitutional-Democratic Party might try to become PM too. If nobody gets enough votes right away theyll need a second round - something that hasnt happened in about 30 years
Looking ahead to next years upper-house vote things could get even trickier. Ishiba needs to fix trust issues after some mess about hidden political money‚ plus deal with rising prices that make people unhappy