Shigeru Ishiba formally re-elected as Japan Prime Minister

Tokyo: Shigeru Ishiba was formally re-elected as Japan's Prime Minister today after a rare runoff vote in parliament that his ruling coalition no longer controls, setting the stage for a minority government.

In the first runoff vote in three decades to select a new prime minister, Ishiba, who heads the Liberal Democratic Party, defeated his rival Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, at the opening of a four-day parliamentary session, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported.

In the initial round of voting in the 465-member House of Representatives, none of the candidates reached the majority threshold of 233 votes required to be elected prime minister. Later, after Ishiba received 221 votes and Noda over 160, the LDP chief was declared the winner, with 84 votes deemed invalid.

The prospect of a minority government means the ruling coalition needs to heed more to demands from the opposition bloc that has gained strength since the Oct. 27 general election.