Attacking Eto for being tone-deaf and Ishiba for initially refusing to sack him, opposition parties had agreed to consider submitting a no-confidence motion against the farm minister.
“I bear full responsibility for making the appointment,” Ishiba told reporters after accepting Eto’s resignation. He added that he had yet to decide on Eto’s successor.
Social media lit up with angry comments directed at both Eto and Ishiba, with one user responding, “then quit”, referring to the premier’s apology for naming Eto to the post.
Eto’s departure threatens Ishiba’s already-shaky grip on power ahead of key upper house elections in July. His Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in the more powerful lower house in a snap election Ishiba called in October shortly after taking office.
Eto’s resignation is the first from Ishiba’s Cabinet, excluding ministers who had lost their seats in those elections.
“Minister Eto’s resignation was inevitable from the moment the gaffe occurred,” said Hiroshi Shiratori, a political science professor at Hosei University in Tokyo.
“The decision to replace him only after five opposition parties had planned their no-confidence motion was too slow, exposing Prime Minister Ishiba’s lack of leadership.”
A Kyodo News opinion poll on Sunday showed support for Ishiba at a record low 27.4 per cent, with nearly nine out of 10 voters dissatisfied with the government’s response to soaring rice prices.
Source: Channel News Asia