Commenting on Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's decision to step down, announced on Sunday, the leaders of the opposition parties scrambled to criticize the ruling Liberal Democratic Party over the stagnation of national administration.
A focal point is whether any of the opposition parties would be ready to join the LDP-Komeito ruling coalition, which has lost its majority in both chambers of parliament.
"The political vacuum is set to continue," Yoshihiko Noda, head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters in Tokyo. "The intraparty confrontation (in the LDP) has lasted too long," he said.
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