TOKYO  -  Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed Monday to stay in office despite his gamble of snap elections backfiring, with the ruling party’s worst result in 15 years. Ishiba, 67, called Sunday’s election days after taking office on October 1, but voters angry at a slush fund scandal punished his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed Japan almost non-stop since 1955.

With projections suggesting the LDP-led coalition would lose its ruling majority, Ishiba vowed to stay in office, saying he would not allow a “political vacuum”. “I want to fulfill my duty by protecting people’s lives, protecting Japan,” Ishiba told reporters.

He said the biggest election factor was “people’s suspicion, mistrust and anger” over a scandal, which saw LDP figures pocket money from fund-raising events and which helped sink his predecessor Fumio Kishida.

“I will enact fundamental reform regarding the issue of money and politics,” Ishiba told reporters, repeating that voters had delivered a “severe judgement” on the party. The yen hit a three-month low, sliding more than one percent against the dollar, as exit polls and results reported by national broadcaster NHK and other media showed the worst result for the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito in 15 years. They were projected to fall short of Ishiba’s stated goal of winning at least 233 seats -- a majority in the 456-member lower house.

The LDP won 191 seats, down from 259 at the last election in 2021, and Komeito 24, according to NHK tallies. Official results were expected later Monday.

Ahead of the election, Japanese media had speculated that if this happened, Ishiba could potentially quit, becoming the nation’s shortest-serving prime minister in the post-war period.

On Monday the LDP’s election committee chief, former premier Junichiro Koizumi’s son Shinjiro Koizumi, resigned.

The most likely next step is that Ishiba will now seek to head a minority government, with the divided opposition seen as probably incapable of forming a coalition of their own, analysts said. Ishiba said Monday he was not considering a broader coalition “at this point”.

“Lawmakers aligned with (former prime minister Shinzo) Abe were cold-shouldered under Ishiba, so they could potentially pounce on the opportunity to take their revenge,” Yu Uchiyama, political science professor at the University of Tokyo, told AFP.

“But at the same time, with the number of LDP seats reduced so much, they might take the high road and support Ishiba for now, thinking it’s not the time for infighting,” he said.