Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was supposed to be a fresh face. He could quickly end up being a forgotten one.
Weeks into his premiership and mere days out from a general election, red alert signals are sounding in Tokyo’s corridors of power. After his surprise victory in last month’s leadership race for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Ishiba has spectacularly failed to achieve even the "new manager bounce” in public opinion polls that generally accompanies a change at the top. His Cabinet has been greeted with the lowest support figures of any new prime minister this century. More respondents to a Jiji poll said they disapproved of the premier than supported him.
Worse still, the roll of the dice to call a hasty snap election now looks like it may backfire. The front pages of news services warn of a potential trouncing at the ballot box this Sunday. The LDP is likely to lose its majority in the Lower House and may also struggle to hold on to power with its long-standing coalition partner Komeito.
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