Japan’s prime minister Shigeru Ishiba won a rare runoff vote to stay in power despite his scandal-hit governing coalition’s terrible loss in the parliamentary polls last month.
Mr Ishiba secured 221 votes to retain his position in the final round of a lower house ballot, winning the highest number of votes among all candidates.
He, however, failed to win a clear majority of the votes but was ahead of his nearest challenger, ex-prime minister Yoshihiko Noda, who won 160 votes.
Mr Ishiba now faces the challenge of leading a fragile minority government.
This comes as protectionist Donald Trump regains control in the US – Japan’s key ally – while tensions escalate with China and North Korea.
The ruling coalition lost its majority following a punishing set of results in last month’s general election, winning just 215 seats, down from 279 and well short of the 233 needed to form a government.
It was the worst result for the LDP – which has ruled Japan for 65 of the past 69 years – since 2009, when it briefly fell out of power.
Mr Ishiba had called for a snap election shortly after taking office on 1 October to capitalise on his honeymoon period. However, his popularity tanked as he U-turned on a number of policies after entering office, including creating an Asian version of Nato, support for same-sex marriage, and the right for married individuals to choose to keep different surnames.
