TOKYO — Toshimitsu Motegi, a former foreign minister of Japan, intends to run in the ruling party’s presidential election after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s decision to resign, Kyodo News reported Monday, Sept. 8, 2025.
Ishiba announced his decision to step down as the head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Sunday, Sept. 7, amid growing calls for him to take responsibility for the party’s election setback.
In a major political setback in July, Japan’s ruling coalition lost its majority in the House of Councillors, which signaled deep public dissatisfaction with the government.
This defeat followed a similar outcome in the 2024 House of Representatives election, leaving the ruling bloc a minority in both chambers of the parliament for the first time since the LDP’s founding in 1955. / XINHUA