NEW DELHI: The Japanese Parliament formally elected Shigeru Ishiba as the Prime Minister. Ishiba, the country's former defence minister, was elected as PM last Friday to replace Fumio Kishida.

Last weekend, Ishiba, 67, was chosen as the prime minister after he won the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) leadership race, clinching a run-off victory after a contest among an unprecedentedly large field of nine candidates.

PM Ishiba has also announced his cabinet, which includes several security and defense experts.

Ishiba appointed to his Cabinet two former defense ministers — Takeshi Iwaya as foreign minister and Gen Nakatani as defense chief.

Only two of the 19 ministers are women: actor-turned-lawmaker Junko Mihara as children’s policy minister and Toshiko Abe as education minister. Both portfolios are considered low-profile. The number of women is Japan cabinet has also reduced, from four under PM Fumio Kishida.

The government is under pressure to increase the number of women in public office. Women now account for only 10% of the lower house, placing Japan near the bottom of global gender-equality rankings.

Ishiba appointed several ministers who voted for him in the party leadership poll and retained Kishida's top confidante, Yoshimasa Hayashi, as chief Cabinet secretary. He also appointed Katsunobu Kato as finance minister. Hayashi also previously served as defense minister.

On Sunday, Ishiba announced his plan to call a snap election in Japan later on October 27. “I believe it is important to have the new administration get the public’s judgment as soon as possible,” he said.

The Associated Press report said that opposition parties criticised Ishiba for allowing only a short period for his policies to be examined and discussed in parliament before the national election.