Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida heads to his office on the morning of Dec. 7. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Bowing to criticism and negative publicity about factions in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Dec. 7 he was stepping down as head of his own faction.

Kishida added that it would be up to faction members to decide if a new faction chairman was needed.

Kishida has told close associates that he wanted to restore public trust in the LDP from his post as party president rather than faction head.

Attention has been focused on the dodgy fund-raising practices by the largest LDP faction once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

On Dec. 6, Kishida directed party executives to refrain from holding fund-raising parties by all LDP factions for the time being.

Kishida has not spoken out about the fund-raising parties by LDP factions.

As is his reactive nature, Kishida is stepping down after facing criticism that he remained as faction head even after becoming prime minister. Past practice has been for prime ministers to leave their LDP factions.

Yoshihide Suga, a former prime minister, criticized Kishida for remaining as faction head after he succeeded him in October 2021, saying it would send the wrong message to the public about lingering faction politics. 

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