It was a case of fifth-time lucky for Shigeru Ishiba, who was sworn in as Prime Minister of Japan on 1 October 2024. After four unsuccessful attempts to win the leadership of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) between 2008 and 2020, and his increasingly isolated position as an outsider within the party, it looked like he had missed his chance. His perseverance has now paid off. (East Asia Forum)

On 27 September, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) chose Shigeru Ishiba as its new leader from an unprecedentedly large field of nine contenders. He succeeded Fumio Kishida as prime minister on 1 October, and has called an election for 27 October. After suffering defeats in four previous party leadership elections, how did Ishiba win this time? (East Asia Forum)