TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s unpopular Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to quit after announcing on Wednesday he will not seek re-election as party chief.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed almost uninterrupted since 1945, is due to hold a leadership contest next month, with the winner to become prime minister.

“In this (party) presidential election, it is necessary to show the people that the LDP is changing and the party is a new LDP,” Kishida told reporters in Tokyo.

“For this, transparent and open elections and free and vigorous debate are important. The most obvious first step to show that the LDP will change is for me to step aside,” he said.

Kishida, 67, in office since October 2021, has seen his and his party’s poll ratings slide sharply in response to rising prices hitting Japanese incomes and several scandals.

In November, Kishida announced a stimulus package worth 17 trillion yen (more than $100 billion at the time) as he tried to ease the pressure from inflation and rescue his premiership.

But this failed to make him any less unpopular, both among voters in the world’s fourth-largest economy and within his own party.

Along with inflation — for Japanese voters an unfamiliar and unwelcome phenomenon — growth has spluttered, shrinking 0.7 percent in the first quarter.

Despite some recovery in recent weeks, the yen has been one of the world’s worst-performing currencies, making life easier for exporters but pushing up import prices.

Before Wednesday, several figures were mooted in local media as possible challengers to Kishida including digital minister Taro Kono and economic security minister Sanae Takaichi.

The Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported that some LDP members have high hopes for Shigeru Ishiba, former party number two, and Shinjiro Koizumi, former environment minister and son of ex-premier Junichiro Koizumi.