Outgoing Japan PM urges ruling party to embrace change
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida | PHILIP FONG/Pool via REUTERS
TOKYO—Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday urged his colleagues to embrace change and seek out a candidate that will transform an unpopular incumbent party with bleak electoral prospects.
Kishida, 67, announced he would not stand for reelection as Liberal Democratic Party boss next month, amid one of the lowest public support rates ever recorded by the scandal-ridden party, which has ruled Japan for most of the past eight decades.
“It is necessary to show the people how the LDP has evolved and has been reborn,” Kishida said at a press conference. In an opinion poll released by public broadcaster NHK this month only a quarter of respondents said they backed his government against more than half who did not.
