Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has informed ruling party leaders that he will not run in the upcoming party leadership election in September, meaning Japan will have a new prime minister, Japanese public broadcaster NHK and other media reported.
Kishida was elected president from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in 2021 and his three-year term expires in September.
His withdrawal from the race means that a new leader who wins the party’s votes will succeed him as prime minister, as the LDP controls both houses of parliament.
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Kishida, hit by corruption scandals in his party, has seen his popularity fall below 20%.
Kishida was due to explain his decision at a news conference on Wednesday.
Defeats in local elections earlier this year eroded its influence, and LDP lawmakers have expressed the need for a new face ahead of the next general election.
Since the corruption scandal broke, Kishida has dismissed a number of ministers and other government officials, dissolved party factions accused of patronage politics and passed a law tightening controls on political funds. But support for his government has waned.
The scandal involves undeclared political funds raised through ticket sales to party events. It implicated more than 80 LDP lawmakers, most of them from a major party faction once led by assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Ten people – lawmakers and their aides – were indicted in January.
