Following two successive national election defeats, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is facing withering criticism from foes and allies alike within his own party for his refusal to resign.

Liberal Democratic Party leaders are trying to vent the steam out of the growing movement to sack Ishiba as the LDP's dismal showing in the July 20 Upper House election resulted in the ruling coalition losing its majority in both chambers. 

Takayuki Kobayashi, a former minister in charge of economic security who ran for the ruling LDP presidency last year against Ishiba, issued a dire warning on July 21.

“If things continue as they are, the LDP will disappear," he said. "The executive committee needs to take this seriously.”

Upper House member Shoji Nishida, who was re-elected in a tight contest despite an offensive comment he made about an Okinawa war memorial, dismissed Ishiba’s announcement that he would remain in office as “nonsense” and called for him to step down.

Taro Kono, acting chairperson of the LDP Election Strategy Committee, submitted his resignation to take responsibility for the poor Upper House election results on July 21.

“If the prime minister stays, I think the secretary-general (of the party) must take responsibility,” Kono told reporters, referring to Hiroshi Moriyama.

It is not only lawmakers who are not close to Ishiba who are critcizing him and urging him to step down.

A veteran lawmaker who has long shared political activities with Ishiba on July 21 sent an email to the prime minister, advising, “You should step down gracefully.”

The lawmaker said, “No matter how you look at it, it’s hard to get people to understand that he should stay on (as prime minister). There will be all kinds of moves.”

At an extraordinary meeting of the party’s executive board on July 21, an executive committee member said, “The fact that we failed to achieve our goals in two national elections is serious. There are complaints, including from prefectural chapters.”

The movement within the party to force Ishiba to step down is likely to intensify in the future, but it will not be easy to force his resignation, as he still has more than two years left in his term of office.

There is no provision in the LDP rule for recalling the party president.

The party rule stipulates that important party matters are to be decided at the party convention or at the general meeting of both the Upper and Lower houses, which means that at least a general meeting of both houses must be held to appoint the president.

The party rule also states that “a general meeting of both houses should be convened within seven days” upon the request of one-third or more of the Diet members belonging to the party.

However, when the “drop Aso” movement arose in 2009 as then Prime Minister Taro Aso was criticized for his declining approval rating and his party's landslide defeat in the Lower House election, the party’s executive committee did not approve of the convening of such a meeting.

The current executive committee also made a pre-emptive move to prevent the “drop Ishiba” movement from spreading. During the extraordinary meeting, Moriyama announced a plan to hold a “roundtable meeting” of members of both houses on July 31.

This roundtable discussion will be similar to a “general meeting” in that lawmakers belonging to the party can attend. However, it is decidedly different in the sense that they do not have the right to vote.

In other words, no matter how many of the attendees press for Ishiba to step down, the roundtable meeting will be nothing more than a “venting” session to blow off steam, unless the prime minister himself decides to resign.

Such a roundtable meeting was held after last year’s disastrous Lower House election, when the ruling coalition lost its majority. At that time, Ishiba bowed and said, “I am truly sorry.”

Moriyama and other executive committee members are planning the same scenario for this time.

However, the current situation of the Ishiba administration differs from that of last year’s Lower House election, which was held after Ishiba dissolved the Diet eight days after the inauguration of the administration.

If the dissatisfaction with the administration that is now smoldering within the party is ignited, there is still a possibility that the drop Ishiba movement will spread at once.

Ishiba will continue to walk a tightrope in the management of his administration.

(This article was written by Anri Takahashi and Taishi Sasayama.)