Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will leave for France, Brazil and Paraguay from Wednesday on official business. But while he is abroad, he is having to think seriously about how to deal with his party being completely left out of Sunday’s by-election.
In the wake of the Liberal Democratic Party’s loss in the Shimane No. 1 district after deciding not to field candidates in the Tokyo No. 15 and Nagasaki No. 3 races, speculation is growing over whether Kishida, who is also LDP president, could decide to take responsibility by calling early elections or ordering a cabinet reshuffle and party leadership changes before the LDP presidential elections in September.
The main opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, won all three races, and CDP leader Kenta Izumi said afterward that his party would continue to call for early elections. A House of Representatives election is not scheduled until October 2025, but the Prime Minister has the right to dissolve Parliament in advance.
