Oct. 27 (UPI) — Japan’s longtime ruling party appears set to be voted out of power in the lower house of the Diet following Sunday elections, which would be a blow to new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, public broadcaster NHK announced.
The election comes on the heels of dissatisfaction among Japanese voters over economic problems and political scandals.
NHK’s exit polls show that the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled the country as a conservative force since 1955 when it was formed, will fall short of a majority in the Diet for the first time since 2009.
If it stands, the vote would plunge the country and its new prime minister into uncertainty as it tries to form a new government .
The LDP could bring on other parties to form a majority, but that move could imperil Ishiba’s authority.
The LDP was facing falling approval ratings and public unrest over political scandals and rising living costs, which have been made worse by a weakening yen, a sluggish economy and high inflation.
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tried to minimize the damage by replacing some cabinet ministers and dissolving factions within the LDP. But he faced calls to resign and announced in August that he would not run for a second term.
As Kishida’s successor, Ishiba, a veteran of Japanese politics, has pledged financial help to low-income households, a higher minimum wage and a revitalized economy in regional pockets of Japan. He has also promised an end to high inflation rates, and had vowed to achieve “growth in real wages.”
Ishiba, 67, called snap elections in Japan, a move that now appears to have backfired. During a rally Saturday, Ishiba pledged that the LDP would “start afresh as a fair, just and sincere party.”