Shigeru Ishiba has been confirmed as Japan’s prime minister, winning a vote in parliament despite a general election defeat that leaves him as one of the country’s weakest leaders in decades.
Ishiba beat his main opponent, opposition leader Yoshihiko Noda, in a rare run-off vote among MPs on Monday. Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic party lost its parliamentary majority in October’s election, leaving it dependent on the support of small opposition parties to govern the second-largest G7 economy.
The election outcome was a huge setback for Ishiba, who called the snap poll after he won a party leadership contest. It leaves Japan with a fragile government at a time of mounting geopolitical and economic uncertainty, including regional tensions, a change of US presidency, a weakened yen and the Bank of Japan’s attempt to normalise monetary policy after the end of negative interest rates.