The “surrendering of the post” that Prime Minister Ishiba has fallen into has caused a hellstorm in the Diet.

Rookie lawmakers “didn’t expect this fiasco.”

It’s not over yet, is it?”

A little after 5:30 in the evening of November 7, a beautiful woman with a well-proportioned figure asked the reporters gathered in the doorway of the LDP headquarters in a flustered tone.

The woman, who arrived two and a half hours late for the meeting, was Senri Morishita, 43, a former TV personality and LDP Lower House Representative who was elected for the first time in the Tohoku block of the proportional representation. She was the only new candidate in the whole country, and the only one in second place on the list. Rushing into the elevator, she headed for Room 901, which had turned into a shuraba.

She said, “There were many things I did not do well. I deeply regret them and must apologize.”

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (67), who suffered a crushing defeat in the lower house election, bowed deeply.

Ishiba extended his scheduled one-hour meeting and apologized for three hours. At the round-table meeting, a total of 50 people spoke, many of them questioning the responsibility of Prime Minister Ishiba and the party’s executive branch. Shigeharu Aoyama, 72, a member of the House of Councillors, opened the discussion by saying that the prime minister should announce his resignation.

He said, “The budget will be compiled at the end of the year, and he should announce his resignation gracefully before that.

His anger did not subside even after the meeting ended, and in an interview, Aoyama barked, “I asked for his resignation clearly, and I was the first one to do so.

I was the only one who clearly asked for his resignation, but there were seven or eight people who agreed with me. When the Aso administration lost the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election, Mr. Ishiba pressed Taro Aso, 84, saying, ‘You should resign. When the Abe administration lost the Upper House election, he asked Shinzo Abe to resign. This time, he himself lost the general election. It is strange for anyone to think that he has not yet tendered his resignation. The whole world thinks so. It is the result of the general election.

The main reason for the outpouring of dissatisfaction was the party’s failure to pay 20 million yen, the same amount as the certified candidate, to the LDP party branch headed by an unapproved candidate. The LDP’s headwind increased when the “Shimbun Aka Banbai” (Newspaper Red Flag) reported the incident in the final stages of the election campaign.

Former Prime Minister Aso’s move comes…

Although Secretary-General Yutaka Moriyama (79) explained that the decision was made “in accordance with the law,” there was no detailed explanation of who made the decision to provide the money and when, or the details leading up to the decision, as “the secretary-general’s explanation was not clear” (Upper House Representative Shoji Nishida ).

However, the three-hour round-table discussion did not lead to a “downing of Ishiba,” as former Economic Planning Agency Director-General Funada (70) put it, “If we do not work as one to overcome the difficult situation, we will no longer be able to remain in the ruling party.

He added, “Only about a month and a half has passed since the presidential election, and the situation will not be broken down by changing the president under the current situation of a minority ruling party. There is a growing reluctant acceptance of the idea that ‘it would be the same if we replaced him with someone else, so let’s just get by with the Ishiba administration for the time being.

Aso’s behavior attracted much attention at the meeting. Kuniko Inoguchi, 72, former minister in charge of fertility, who belongs to the Aso Faction, recalls.

He didn’t say a word during the three-hour meeting. His eyes were closed, but he didn’t doze off, didn’t lose his posture, and sat there the entire time. I think the fact that he was watching the discussion until the very end may have been a silent encouragement to PM Ishiba, who had once been “grated down by Aso,” to persevere and do his best for now.

Ishiba kept his head low as he made his way through the Diet and the special Diet session, and he was able to secure his own seat through a decisive vote in the prime ministerial nomination election. Although it seems unlikely that he will be forced to step down before the end of the year, he still has a “difficult road ahead of him.

He said with a grim look on his face, “I have been forced to walk a tightrope in managing the administration by handing over the chairmanship and presidency of the National Diet to the opposition parties.

Election planner Shinnosuke Fujikawa said with a grim expression on his face.

Following the heavy defeat in the lower house election, the LDP handed over seven of its 17 standing committee chairmanships to the opposition parties in the special Diet session. Five posts on special committees and review panels were also lost to the opposition, with former National Diet Committee Chairman Jun Azumi (62) assuming the chairmanship of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives and former Representative Yukio Edano (60) assuming the chairmanship of the Constitutional Review Commission. In total, 12 committee chairmanships and chairmanships belonged to the opposition parties.

A gleam of hope in the “debate

The Budget Committee is attended by the prime minister and all cabinet ministers, and the ruling and opposition parties engage in a debate. It is unusual for a member of the opposition party to serve as the chairman of the committee. The Budget Committee, which is broadcast live on TV and is known as the “flower of the Diet,” not only deliberates the budget, but also discusses scandals involving the ruling party. If the ruling party had the upper hand, it would have been able to use its sheer strength of numbers to block any attempt by the opposition to call witnesses related to the scandal before the Diet, but it has also lost its position as chairman of the committee. If a scandal were to emerge, there is now a possibility that it would be debated in the Diet.

If the Diet were to hold a Political Ethics Examination Commission or call witnesses, it would be possible to invite the backstabbing Diet members and others to testify. The ruling party will no longer be able to force a vote, as it has done in the past, and the Diet will no longer be run according to the convenience of the ruling party.

The extraordinary Diet session at the end of the year and the ordinary Diet session next year will probably be dominated by “politics and money,” and Prime Minister Ishiba will have no choice but to defend himself. The opposition parties will demand the abolition of political activity expenses and the disclosure of the use of the research, study, and public relations expenses (formerly correspondence expenses), of which 1 million yen is paid every month. Even if the LDP makes concessions and achieves some of the results sought by the public, the credit will belong to the opposition and not to the Ishiba administration.

The LDP may be able to concede the abolition of political activity expenses and the disclosure of the old correspondence expenses, but the LDP will still have to make concessions. However, if the LDP proposes the abolition of corporate donations and the abolition of political fund parties, which are sources of funding for the LDP, the LDP will naturally not be able to accept the proposal. How will Prime Minister Ishiba fend off the opposition? If he can successfully evade the opposition, the Ishiba administration will be able to survive even if it is in shambles.

The Ishiba administration has already turned into a sandbag right from the moment it took office. Although there seems to be no breakthrough, “there is hope,” says a veteran LDP secretary.

The chairmanship of the Budget Committee has been handed over to the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), but Azumi has taken over the chairmanship of the committee. When Secretary-General Moriyama was chairman of the National Diet Committee, his opponent was Azumi, and behind the scenes, the ruling and opposition parties held hands around these two men. Since then, Moriyama and Azumi have continued their honeymoon. This time, too, they are communicating behind the scenes, and the “politics and money” issue will be settled in moderation.

Ishiba himself is a good debater, and he can get along well with opposition party members who can speak logically. Representative Noda is a moderate conservative whose policies are close to those of Prime Minister Ishiba, so there will be few policy disputes. In the Budget Committee, which is under siege, there is a possibility that the prime minister’s stock will rise.

Ironically, the defeat in the lower house election did not result in the “downing of Ishiba.

However, the future looks bright for a prime minister and president who is late for the reception of both houses of the Diet by a new member of the Diet.