Japanese Prime Minister Kishida resigned along with his cabinet

Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida resigned along with his cabinet on Tuesday, paving the way for his successor Shigeru Ishiba to take office.

Kishida is set to take office in 2021, but is stepping down to allow his party to have a fresh leader after his government was beset by scandals. Parliamentary elections are planned to be held after Ishiba is formally elected as prime minister on October 27.

“I believe it is important for the new administration to get the people’s verdict as soon as possible,” Ishiba said, announcing his plan to call an early election. The opposition criticized Ishiba for allowing little time to consider his policies and debate them in parliament before the vote.

Ishiba was elected leader of the Liberal Democratic Party on Friday, replacing Kishida, who announced in August that he would resign at the end of his three-year term. Ishiba has promised to become prime minister later Tuesday in a parliamentary vote as his party dominates the ruling coalition.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Kishida and his ministers resigned during a morning cabinet meeting. Hayashi, who is close to Kishida, said the World has high expectations of Japan’s diplomatic role as global divisions over Russia’s war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East deepen.

“We hope that the next administration will continue active and vigorous diplomacy with an emphasis on (Japan’s) main pillars of achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Hayashi said.

Most of his cabinet ministers, like Ishiba, are expected to remain independent of factions led and controlled by party heavyweights, and none have been linked to scandals that have damaged former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s powerful group.