After Shigeru Ishiba’s resignation, who could be Japan’s next Prime Minister?

He directed the Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for most of the post-war era, to conduct an emergency leadership contest, while confirming he would remain in office until a successor is chosen. “I would like to pass the baton to the next generation,” Reuters reported him saying.

The resignation comes as Japan finalised a trade agreement with the United States aimed at easing President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs. Trump said he was “a little bit surprised” by Ishiba’s move. Asked by reporters if he planned to visit Japan and South Korea later this year, he replied: “We’ll see.”

Attention now turns to who might succeed him.

Early candidates

• Former foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi was the first to confirm his candidacy, telling reporters: “The LDP is facing its worst crisis since its founding. We must unite quickly to tackle our serious challenges at home and abroad and move the country forward.”
  
• Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi also intends to run, according to a government source cited by Reuters.

Frontrunners

• Sanae Takaichi, 64, is a veteran conservative who has held multiple cabinet posts. If elected, she would be Japan’s first female prime minister. Takaichi is known for her conservative stance, including advocating revisions to Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution. She frequently visits the Yasukuni shrine, which some of Japan’s Asian neighbours regard as a reminder of past militarism. She is distinguished by her outspoken criticism of Bank of Japan interest rate hikes and her push for increased spending to strengthen the fragile.
• Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, the farm minister and son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. A Columbia University graduate, he is considered a reformist and would become Japan’s youngest modern-era leader if chosen.
  

Both placed strongly in last year’s leadership contest, trailing Ishiba. “All indications are that it will come down to them facing off against each other,” Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies, told Reuters.

Opposition prospects

Because the LDP no longer controls either chamber of parliament, there is also a theoretical path for an opposition leader to take power.

Among those floated are Yoshihiko Noda, a former prime minister now leading the Constitutional Democratic Party, and Yuichiro Tamaki, of the Democratic Party for the People, who has called for tax cuts, stronger defence and more nuclear energy.

(With inputs from Reuters)