Japan’s ruling party is seeking a new leader! We are a leading political organization that has dominated power for the past 70 years. The perfect candidate will be popular with the electorate, able to bridge various factions and have an ability to win elections. Above all, they’ll have no skeletons in the closet or ties to religious cults — and definitely no history of giving potentially illegal political gifts.
When the Liberal Democratic Party last year set about looking for a new leader, the job description would have read something like this. But the man who got the job, Shigeru Ishiba, didn’t get the message.
It’s bad enough that his public popularity has been underwhelming, leading to a disastrous performance in last year’s general election that left the LDP running a minority government. Now, just as polling season is set to ramp up again, he’s caught up in a political funding scandal, trashing a squeaky-clean image that was perhaps his greatest public strength.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.