TOKYO: ISHIBA Shigeru was re-elected as Japan’s prime minister in a vote in parliament on Monday.
Ishiba is expected to face intense pressure from opposition parties over policies as his ruling coalition lost its majority in the House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of parliament, in last month’s general election.
His re-election followed the first runoff vote in three decades in the Lower House, after no candidate received a majority of votes in the initial ballot. Ishiba, who leads the Liberal Democratic Party, won in the decisive vote against Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
For his cabinet, Ishiba appointed Keisuke Suzuki, an LDP member in the Lower House, as justice minister to replace Hideki Makihara, and Taku Eto, a former agriculture minister from the LDP, to succeed Yasuhiro Ozato as agriculture minister. Both Makihara and Ozato lost their Lower House seats in the October election.
From Komeito, Ishiba named Hiromasa Nakano as land minister to succeed Tetsuo Saito, who became leader of the LDP’s junior coalition partner, on Saturday.
Ishiba retained other cabinet members.
JIJI Press