<figure id="attachment_436636" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-436636" style="width: 4375px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7daad63c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/08/cbcf9214b2c6feadbde22d1096ca6cd4.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-436636" class="wp-caption-text">Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba smiles surrounded by representatives of various countries at the 9th African Development Conference. &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
<h2> I didn&#8217;t think it would be such a tough job.</h2>
 Being president or prime minister is not much fun.&#8221;
 Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, 68, is said to have said this in his address at a dinner meeting of the African Development Conference held in Yokohama on the evening of August 21. And to Foreign Minister Tsuyoshi Iwaya, 68, who was also in attendance, he said.
 He then asked Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, 68, who was also present at the meeting, &#8220;Why don&#8217;t you laugh there?
 He then told Foreign Minister Tsuyoshi Iwaya, 68, who was also in attendance, &#8220;You don&#8217;t laugh there,
 I hope you all have a good time.
 I hope you all have a pleasant time,&#8221; he said, and toasted.
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 He made a self-deprecating remark to the dignitaries of each country. However, it could also be said that he meant what he said. According to a source in the political world.
 He is being flatly confronted with demands for his resignation from within the party. The LDP is in danger of splitting up. I think it is true that he cannot relax even for a moment.
 On the other hand, the line, &#8220;There is nothing fun about it,&#8221; is a maxim that can only be understood by those who have served as prime minister of a country.
 Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was killed by a bullet in July 2010. He was a strong electoral candidate, and his LDP had a majority in some elections. From the outside looking in, it seemed as if he was promised a solid administration. On one occasion, a person invited to the prime minister&#8217;s office said to Prime Minister Abe
 &#8220;This is all right, isn&#8217;t it?
 Prime Minister Abe&#8217;s expression was stern.
 There is no way we can afford it. There is no fun in it.
 There is no such thing as fun,&#8221; he said.
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 No matter how high his approval rating is, the lives of the people are on his shoulders. There is never a moment when he can relax.
 The death of former Prime Minister Abe gave Ishiba his long-cherished dream of sitting in the prime minister&#8217;s chair, but soon after assuming the post, he was criticized by those around him for his lack of experience in the job.
 I didn&#8217;t think it would be such a hard job. &#8230;&#8230;
 He was said to have said, &#8220;I didn&#8217;t realize how hard the job would be.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Takaichi is a strong man if he is a full specimen type. ......"></div>
The disastrous defeat of Prime Minister Ishiba in the House of Councillors election has led to the suggestion that the election for the presidency be moved up. Those who are shouting the loudest are groups centering on the former Abe faction, which has had a cold shoulder over the slush fund issue and the former Unification Church issue. Various opinion polls show that Prime Minister Ishiba&#8217;s approval rating is slowly rising, but within the party, the &#8220;downing of Ishiba&#8221; is heating up, so it is no longer the will of the people but a power struggle within the LDP.
 According to party rules, the presidential election can be moved up if a majority of 172 or more of the party&#8217;s 342 members (295 Diet members and 47 representatives of prefectural federations) demand it.
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 If the presidential election were to be held, Prime Minister Ishiba could also run, but his chances of winning are zero. Some observers believe that it will ultimately come down to a runoff between Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, and former Economic and Security Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi, 64. &#8230;&#8230;
<h2> We&#8217;re still 10 members short in the House of Representatives and three in the House of Councillors, but&#8230;</h2>
 The LDP is short 10 members in the House of Representatives and three in the House of Councillors, but the election is likely to be a &#8220;full-spectrum&#8221; presidential election, with votes from Diet members and party members and friends nationwide, as it is an important election that will determine the future of the LDP. In such a case, Mr. Takaichi, who won 200,000 party member votes in the previous presidential election, is the strongest candidate. Those who are demanding a full-spec presidential candidate know that,&#8221; said a source in the ruling party.
 Prime Minister Ishiba, on the other hand, is not willing to sit back and wait for death. Advancement of the presidential election means, in other words, a recall. According to an LDP official close to Ishiba
 &#8220;It is not that Prime Minister Ishiba has no intention of quitting. However, it is not his intention to step down in the form of a recall, and he will fight it thoroughly.
 According to the LDP presidential election management committee
 The LDP Presidential Election Administration Committee has begun considering publishing the names of lawmakers who have requested in writing that the presidential election be moved up over the confirmation of their intention to decide whether or not to do so. While some have suggested that &#8220;no names&#8221; would be preferable, Ichiro Aizawa, chairman of the LDP Presidential Election Administration Committee, said, &#8220;It would be very difficult to decide on the presidential election.
 However, committee chairman Ichiro Aizawa said, &#8220;This is a very important matter that will determine the implementation of the presidential election. It would be unwise not to know who wrote the letter.
 The aforementioned official said, &#8220;It is not good that we don&#8217;t know who wrote the letter. The aforementioned official said, &#8220;Publication of the names is a stepping stone and a threat.
 The publication of the names is like a treadmill or a threat. （There is no doubt that it will serve as a deterrent. At present, the situation is delicate as to whether 172 members, the majority, will gather. If the names are made public, the number will probably decrease further.
 He believes that the number will decrease even further once the names are made public. Based on such considerations, he said, &#8220;I think it would be a good idea to move up the presidential election,
 &#8220;I think that the presidential election has already been moved up,&#8221; he told us in an interview.
 Harumi Arima, a political commentator, told our interviewer, &#8220;The Ishiba administration will have about 10 members in the House of Representatives.
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 The Ishiba administration was a minority ruling party with only about 10 members in the House of Representatives, but it still managed to pass most of the bills in the ordinary Diet session, not to mention the budget bill. This time, the House of Councillors is also short of a three-member majority, but there are opinions within the party that Ishiba was fine until then, and I can see no other &#8216;face&#8217; in the Diet who can manage the Diet with the cooperation of the opposition parties than Prime Minister Ishiba. Mr. Takaichi is eager to run for the presidency, but the party is not convinced that he will be able to win back a majority with his own party and the public by calling a general dissolution election immediately after he takes office, or if he fails to do so, whether a three-party coalition of the opposition 0 party and &#8220;Jikko 0&#8221; can be formed.
 It is unlikely that the right-wing votes that have gone to the Sangen party and other parties will return, and if the opposition parties, which do not like the rightward shift, do not cooperate, it will be extremely difficult for the law to be passed. Takayuki Kobayashi and Shinjiro Koizumi have been mentioned, but I think it is difficult to draw a concrete picture. On the contrary, there is even a possibility that the LDP will lose even more seats in the Diet in the event of a no-confidence motion by the opposition parties and a general election. There were some lawmakers, such as Yasutaka Nakasone, the director of the Youth Bureau, who publicly raised his fist and called for the LDP to resign, but the heat has gradually cooled off since the August general meeting was postponed until September, there is speculation that a name-check vote would worsen their position, and above all, there is a large voice in the polls saying, &#8220;Don&#8217;t resign, Ishiba! The LDP is also taking advantage of the large voice of the public opinion poll that says, &#8220;Don&#8217;t quit Ishiba.
 Within the LDP, the atmosphere of wanting to force Mr. Ishiba to resign at any cost is waning. If a presidential election is held, the LDP as a whole will show the public that Ishiba is disqualified, and they are concerned about the public&#8217;s view.
 One month has passed since the Upper House election, and people are still &#8220;downing Ishiba. Needless to say, the people of Japan are not being taken seriously.

 Representative photo/Reuters/Afro

 Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has lost three consecutive elections since becoming prime minister, including the recent Upper House election. There have been some suggestions within the LDP that he is to blame for this, and there have even been proposals to move up the presidential election. ......

The LDP presidential election continues even after the Bon holidays.

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