Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed Monday to stay in office despite his gamble of snap elections backfiring, with his party’s ruling coalition falling short of a majority for the first time since 2009.

Ishiba 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.

Ishiba, 67, insisted on Monday he was staying put, saying he would not allow a “political vacuum” in the world’s fourth-biggest economy.

He said the biggest election factor was “people’s suspicion, mistrust and anger” after the party scandal, which helped sink his predecessor, Fumio Kishida.

“I will enact fundamental reform regarding the issue of money and politics,” Ishiba told reporters.

The yen hit a three-month low, sliding more than one percent against the dollar.

According to projections by national broadcaster NHK and other media, the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito missed Ishiba’s stated goal of winning 233 seats – a majority in the 456-member lower house.

The LDP won 191 seats, down from 259 at the last election in 2021, according to NHK’s tallies. Official results were yet to be published.

“As long as our own lives don’t improve, I think everyone has given up on the idea that we can expect anything from politicians,” restaurant worker Masakazu Ikeuchi, 44, told AFP on Monday in rainy Tokyo.

On Monday, the LDP’s election committee chief, former premier Junichiro Koizumi’s son Shinjiro Koizumi, resigned to “take responsibility” for the outcome.

The most likely next step is Ishiba seeking to head a minority government, with the divided opposition probably incapable of forming a coalition of their own, analysts said.

Ishiba, who has 30 days to form a government, said Monday he was not considering a broader coalition “at this point.”

A minority government would likely slow down the parliamentary process as Japan confronts a host of challenges from a falling population to a tense regional security environment.

It could also push figures within the LDP to try to unseat Ishiba.

“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, a 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.  

A big winner was former premier Yoshihiko Noda’s opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), which increased its projected seat tally to 148 from 96 at the last election.

Noda in the campaign pounced on media reports that the LDP was financially supporting district offices headed by figures caught up in the slush fund scandal.

“Voters chose which party would be the best fit to push for political reforms,” Noda said late Sunday, adding that the “LDP-Komeito administration cannot continue”.

Mirroring elections elsewhere, fringe parties did well, with Reiwa Shinsengumi, founded by a former actor, tripling its seats to nine after promising to abolish the sales tax and boost pensions.

The anti-immigration and traditionalist Conservative Party of Japan, established in 2023 by nationalist writer Naoki Hyakuta, won its first three seats.

The number of women lawmakers, meanwhile, reached a record high of 73, according to NHK, but they still make up less than 16 percent of the legislature.

“I think the outcome was a result of people across Japan wanting to change the current situation,” said voter Takako Sasaki, 44.

Ishiba said before the election that he was planning a new stimulus packaging to ease the pain of rising prices, another contributor to Kishida’s unpopularity.

Another big area of spending is the military, with Kishida having pledged to double defense spending and boost U.S. military ties as a counter to China.

Ishiba has backed the creation of a regional military alliance along the lines of NATO to counter China, although he has cautioned it would “not happen overnight”.

China’s foreign ministry said Monday it wanted a “constructive and stable China-Japan relationship that meets the requirements of the new era”.

The driver who struck and killed a famous grizzly bear south of Grand Teton National Park earlier this week was not speeding and the bear’s death was an accident, law enforcement officers said Friday.

The death of grizzly No. 399 on Tuesday night in the Snake River Canyon south of Jackson saddened tourists, wildlife biologists and amateur and professional photographers who for years studied and captured images of the bear and her many cubs and followed her comings and goings on social media sites.

“The bear stepped right out into the road,” Lincoln County Sheriff’s Patrol Lt. John Stetzenbach told the Jackson Hole News & Guide on Friday. The driver “was unable to brake in time to avoid the bear, and the collision occurred.”

He said the collision “truly was an accident” and that the driver was not speeding or distracted and was not cited. The Subaru that hit the bear had to be towed from the scene, Stetzenbach said.

He declined to identify the driver, noting some online comments blamed the driver for the bear’s death.

At 28 years old, No. 399 was the oldest known reproducing female grizzly in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Each spring, wildlife enthusiasts eagerly awaited her emergence from her den to see how many cubs she had birthed over the winter – then quickly shared the news online. The bear had 18 known cubs in eight litters over the years, including a litter of four in 2020. She stood around 7 feet tall and weighed about 400 pounds.

Named for the identity tag attached to her ear by researchers, the grizzly was often seen near roads in Grand Teton, drawing crowds and creating traffic jams.

Wildlife photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen previously described the bear as his muse.

“Her intelligence, her behavior, her beauty,” Mangelsen told “60 Minutes” in 2018. “The fact that she’s had all these offspring. There’s not many bears that I know of that’s had three sets of triplets.”

Grand Teton bear biologist Justin Schwabedissen said Thursday that he believes her yearling cub, which was apparently not struck, will survive on its own.

Authorities said 49 grizzly bears died because of vehicle collisions between 2009 and 2023. 

Grizzly bears generally live to be around 25, though some in the wild have lived for over 35 years, according to the Fish & Wildlife Service.

Before 1800, there were an estimated 50,000 grizzly bears living throughout 18 western States, including Wyoming, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. By 1975, the population in the 48 contiguous states was reduced to between 700 to 800. 

After decades of being listed as threatened in the lower 48 states under the U.S.  Endangered Species Act, the population has grown to at least 1,923 grizzly bears in the 48 contiguous states.

contributed to this report.

Two weeks after a camper in Montana was savagely killed in his tent, authorities say they are looking for a large axe and other items that were likely taken from the crime scene.

Dustin Kjersem, 35, was found dead in his tent earlier this month by a friend who reported Kjersem appeared to have been killed by a bear — but officials soon discovered the camper was actually the victim of a brutal murder.

In a social media post, the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office said it’s continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the homicide and asked the public to be on the lookout for a large axe and several items that are “believed to have been removed from the scene of the crime.”

Specifically, authorities said they were looking for a blue and silver Estwing camp axe, likely with a 26″ handle, as well as a Remington 11-87 12ga shotgun and Ruger Blackhawk .44mag revolver. The sheriff’s office said it was also looking for an orange Tundra 45 cooler made by YETI.

“If you see these items, don’t touch them and immediately report them,” the office said in the post, which included images of the axe and cooler.

“We appreciate the information that has been provided by the community and multiple leads are being investigated,” the office added.

Earlier this month, a friend discovered Kjersem’s body in a tent at a makeshift campsite along Moose Creek Road and called 911, telling responders the death appeared to have been caused by a bear attack, the sheriff’s office previously said.

But a state wildlife official found no signs of bear activity, and investigators said they soon found evidence of a “vicious attack.” An autopsy later showed Kjersem sustained “multiple chop wounds,” including to his skull.

“He was brutally killed at his campsite and we need your help,” Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said previously, adding that his detectives were working “all hours of day and night to find his killer.”

No suspects have been identified, and Springer said the remote area of the crime scene, where there is no cellphone service, was making the investigation more difficult than most cases.

“People have asked me if there’s a threat to this community and the answer is we don’t know. We don’t have enough information to know at this time,” he said.

Kjersem’s sister Jillian Price said her brother was a skilled tradesman and a doting father.

“I don’t understand why the world’s just not stopping and looking for who did this to him,” Price told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. “Please, I mean he deserves that. I need that.”

A GoFundMe set up for Kjersem’s children has raised more than $24,000.