Japan, today's Special National Assembly for 'Prime Minister Nomination Election'...Ishiba Will Remain Prime Minister

Japanese media reported that Shigeru Ishiba, the current prime minister, is likely to be re-elected as a special parliamentary session will be convened today to nominate the next prime minister after Japan's lower house elections.

Following the results of last month's general election, a special session of the National Assembly will be convened this afternoon, and the prime minister's nomination election will be held at the plenary session of the House of Representatives and the upper house, respectively.

Prime Minister Ishiba, who took office as prime minister on the 1st of last month, is likely to be re-elected as the 103rd prime minister in a special parliamentary session, local media predicted.

The ruling party failed to secure a majority of seats in last month's general election, but Ishiba is likely to be elected again as the opposition party failed to unify its candidates in the prime ministerial nomination election.

In last month's parliamentary elections, the Liberal Democrats and the coalition New Komeito won a combined 215 seats, falling short of the 233 majority of the 465 lower house seats.

If there is no majority vote in the first round of the prime ministerial nomination election, Prime Minister Ishiba, the Liberal Democratic Party's president, and Yoshihiko Noda, the leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, are expected to hold a final vote between the top two.

If the final vote is held, it will be the fifth in 30 years since 1994, and the Japan Restoration Association and the People's Democratic Party have decided to vote for their party's leader in both the first and final elections of the prime minister's election.

Prime Minister Ishiba, the majority Liberal Democratic Party president, is likely to be re-elected because writing down someone other than the two candidates in the final round will invalidate both.