A television screen broadcasts images of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Tokyo, the day after the legislative elections, October 28, 2024. RICHARD A. BROOKS / AFP Japan, which has long been considered a model of political stability, has entered into a zone of turbulence at an inopportune moment to say the least. Sluggish economy despite a slight rebound, inflation, wage stagnation, weakening of the yen and, in the event of Donald Trump’s re-election in the US presidential election on November 5, a prime minister in difficulty unable to resist his demands . The political instability that has taken hold since the defeat of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the legislative elections on October 27 risks compromising Japan’s more assertive international positioning, initiated by the outgoing Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, and to worry foreign investors who, over the last two years, have turned away from China to shift their interest to the Archipelago, which is now plunged into an unusual climate of concern. For the moment, the situation is blocked. No party has a majority. Neither the PLD and its center-right ally Komei nor the main opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party (PDC) despite its progress in the elections. Alliances are necessary before the opening of the new extraordinary parliamentary session which must be held within thirty days after the election. Reaching compromises The Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba, who does not plan to resign despite calls from part of the PLD to assume responsibility for the defeat of his party, is seeking to rally the dozen elected officials from the ranks of his party who had presented themselves in the elections as independents, and above all to obtain the support of one of the small opposition groups. Talks began with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which quadrupled its seats (28) and seems willing to play this supporting role to the PLD-Komei coalition with which it has political affinities while seeking to position itself as a third way between the PLD and the Constitutional Democratic Party. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers “In Japan, an electoral defeat for… a dish of noodles, symbol of the return of inflation” Read later From a position of strength, the president of the DPP, Yuichiro Tamaki, is demanding: he announced that he will not join the PLD-Komei coalition but that he was ready to cooperate piecemeal with it. This conditional support will lead to laborious negotiations to reach compromises, particularly on economic issues that risk slowing down the decision-making process and delaying structural reforms to escape deflation. You have 60.04% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
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