Japan formally elects Shigeru Ishiba as prime minister, cabinet announced

The Japanese Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 1) formally elected Shigeru Ishiba as the Prime Minister. Ishiba, the country's former defence minister, was elected as PMlast Fridayto replace Fumio Kishida.

Last weekend,Ishiba, 67, was chosen as the prime ministerafter hewon the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP)leadership race,clinching a run-off victoryafter a contest among an unprecedentedly large field of nine candidates.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

PM Ishiba has also announced his cabinet, which includes several security and defense experts.

Ishiba appointed to his Cabinet two former defense ministers — Takeshi Iwaya as foreign minister and Gen Nakatani as defense chief.

Only two of the 19 ministers are women: actor-turned-lawmaker Junko Mihara as children’s policy minister and Toshiko Abe as education minister. Both portfolios are considered low-profile. The number of women is Japan cabinet has also reduced, from four under PM Fumio Kishida.

The government is under pressure to increase the number of women in public office. Women now account for only 10% of the lower house, placing Japan near the bottom of global gender-equality rankings.

Ishiba appointed several ministers who voted for him in the party leadership poll and retained Kishida's top confidante, Yoshimasa Hayashi, as chief Cabinet secretary. He also appointed Katsunobu Kato as finance minister. Hayashi also previously served as defense minister.

Ishiba announces snap election for October

On Sunday,Ishiba announced his plan to call a snap election in Japan later on October 27.“I believe it is important to have the new administration get the public’s judgment as soon as possible,” he said.

The Associated Press report said that opposition parties criticised Ishibafor allowing only a short period for his policies to be examined and discussed in parliament before the national election.

What has Ishiba proposed as PM?

> Ishiba has proposed an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

“The absence of a collective self-defence system like NATO in Asia means that wars are likely to break out because there is no obligation for mutual defence. Under these circumstances, the creation of an Asian version of NATO is essential to deter China from its Western allies,” the 67-year-old wrotein an article to the Hudson Institute last week.

> He has proposedmore discussion among regional partners about the use of the USnuclear deterrence.

>Ishiba has proposed combining existing security and diplomatic groupings, such as the Quad and other bilateral and multilateral frameworks involving the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines.

Also watch | Race to Power: Shigeru Ishiba calls for snap electionon October 27

> He has also stressed thatJapan needs to reinforce its security, noting recent violations of Japanese airspace by Russian and Chinese warplanes and repeated missile launches by North Korea.

> Ishiba pledged tocontinue Kishida’s economic policy aimed at pulling Japan out of deflation and achieving real salary increases while tackling challenges such as Japan’s declining birthrate and population and resilience to natural disasters.

(With inputs from agencies)