Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, suffered a new blow on Monday when the scandal-plagued ruling party lost three parliamentary seats in the weekend’s by-elections.
The country’s main opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, defeated the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in all three of the seats that were up for grabs, according to results from local election authorities and media exit polls.
Kishida’s standing as party leader may be in jeopardy following the defeats in Tokyo, Shimane, and Nagasaki, which followed the LDP’s big controversy involving kickbacks connected to political fundraising events later this year.
Factions of the LDP have admitted to systematically failing to report incomes from fundraisers for years and sharing the money among their members.
“We saw very serious consequences,” said LDP secretary general and Kishida’s right-hand man Toshimitsu Motegi late Sunday, after exit polls indicated his party had lost.
“It may take a long time, but we will work hard to regain the voters’ trust,” he told reporters.
Local media said Monday that the election losses could encourage LDP lawmakers to try to bring down Kishida when his term as party leader expires in September.
“The Kishida administration stands on the edge of a cliff after losing all supplementary elections,” the influential Nikkei business daily said in an editorial.
The results highlighted “the LDP’s decline”, the top-selling conservative Yomiuri Shimbun said.
Kyodo News suggested the loss will “undermine Kishida’s political footing and prod LDP lawmakers to attempt to oust him from power before the next general election, making it unlikely he will run in the party’s presidential race around September”.
Still, the LDP-led ruling bloc controls a comfortable legislative majority, and there is no clear alternative to immediately replace Kishida among LDP members.
Approaching the special weekend poll, the LDP was in the minority.
Due to separate controversies, two legislators were compelled to resign, leaving two seats empty.
The third seat became open because a parliamentarian who was also a high-ranking member of a party faction heavily embroiled in the financial scandal passed away.
