Ishiba Cabinet Resigns ahead of Diet PM Votes

Tokyo, Nov. 11 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's cabinet resigned en masse Monday before the Diet, or parliament, names a new prime minister in a special session convened the same day.

His first cabinet, assembled on Oct. 1, stepped down at an extraordinary cabinet meeting in the morning. Article 70 of the Constitution stipulates that the cabinet must resign en masse when the first Diet session is convened following a general election.

Ishiba, also president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is expected to be named as the country's leader once again through votes in both chambers of the Diet later on Monday.

He is unlikely to win outright in the vote at the House of Representatives, the all-important lower Diet chamber, after the coalition of the LDP and its junior partner Komeito failed to secure a majority in the Oct. 27 general election for the Lower House. But he is all but certain to beat Yoshihiko Noda, head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, in the expected runoff round, as opposition forces have failed to unite for the selection of the new prime minister.

Ishiba is then seen launching his new cabinet Monday night. Fresh faces for the cabinet are likely to include Keisuke Suzuki as justice minister, Taku Eto as agriculture minister and Komeito's Hiromasa Nakano as land minister. Other posts are expected to be filled by those from Ishiba's first cabinet.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]