Japan faces political instability as ruling coalition loses majority

Japan’s ruling coalition lost its majority in an election Sunday, leaving the world’s fourth-largest economy facing the prospect of minority governance or smaller parties acting as kingmakers in coalition talks.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba called a snap election less than a month ago upon assuming the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan for most of its post-war history.

But the move, which aimed to capitalize on a new-leader bounce and cement Ishiba’s credibility, backfired, with voters punishing the party for inflation and a funding scandal that led to the expulsion of some members.

With only a handful of seats left to be declared, the governing LDP-Komeito coalition will fall short of a majority in Japan’s 465-seat parliament. The two parties previously held 279 seats.

It was a good night for the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which significantly boosted its seat count to more than 130, from 98. Local media reported party leader Yoshihiko Noda, himself a former PM, as saying: “We now truly are on the eve of a change of government.”

The LDP could remain in power, though, by bringing in new coalition partners, or by forming a minority government that is supported on key issues by rival parties that refuse to formally govern with it.