Japan's LDP collects enough signatures for key meeting on PM Ishiba's fate

Alsharq Tribune-AFP 

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has collected enough signatures to call a general meeting that will hold Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba accountable for the party's recent crushing election loss, local media reported.

LDP rules stipulate that a general meeting be convened within seven days if more than one-third of its parliamentary members request it. The required number of signatures has been met, Jiji Press reported Friday, citing an LDP member who leads the signature campaign.

Hiroyoshi Sasagawa, a member of the former LDP faction led by former LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi, said that he would decide when to submit the signatures after looking at Ishiba's response at a less formal meeting of party lawmakers on Monday to discuss the outcome of Sunday's House of Councillors election.

In a landmark political setback, Japan's ruling coalition has lost its majority in the 248-member upper chamber in Sunday's race. The defeat follows a similar outcome in the 2024 House of Representatives election, leaving the ruling bloc a minority in both chambers of the parliament, a historic first since the LDP's founding in 1955.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people filled the streets outside Ishiba's office on Friday, urging him not to step down in a rare show of support for the embattled leader, who is facing increasing pressure from within his own party to resign following the election defeat.

Since Sunday's election, Ishiba has said he has no intention of stepping down, describing the situation as a "national crisis.