Japan’s Abe triggers snap election

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a meeting of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday that he will dissolve the lower house of parliament when it convenes for an extraordinary session on Thursday and call a snap election.

The contentious general election, being called despite accusations from the opposition camp that Abe is merely trying to extend his grip on power, while avoiding accusations of cronyism in parliamentary debate, is slated for Oct 22.

Official campaigning will begin on Oct 10, government sources said.

Before making the announcement to his party executives, Abe told a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy that he intends to launch a new economic plan allocating $17.8 billion that focuses on funding free preschool education, among other things.

In the latest installment of his “Abenomics” brand of economic policy, the plans of which are often announced before elections in an attempt to bolster public support, the Japanese leader said that the new initiative would be funded by revenue generated by a tax hike in 2019.

Abe also said that he would endeavor to better balance Japan’s choppy budget book, as rising welfare costs, among other factors, have caused Japan’s national debt to continue to balloon, while private consumption remains sluggish owing to lackluster domestic demand and stagnant wages.

Besides economics, Abe is widely expected to campaign on a newly-intensified security platform, as regional threats are being consistently hypedup by the ruling camp and have led to consistent increases in tax-payer-backed military spending and budget requests.

He also said that he would seek public support for a tougher stance over the Korea Peninsula issue.

According to a weekend poll in business daily Nikkei, 44 percent of voters plan to vote for Abe’s LDP, while only 8 percent favored the main opposition Democratic Party.

But in further blow to Abe, a senior vice-Cabinet Office minister announced on Monday he would be leaving the ruling party.

Mineyuki Fukuda, 53, said he wants to form a new party with independent lower house member Masaru Wakasa.

“I will make a new political party with House of Representatives lawmaker Masaru Wakasa,” Fukuda said, referring to the independent lawmaker who has joined forces with former Democratic Party members including Goshi Hosono and other defectors.

“I want to join the new party and work on raising up its human resources,” Fukuda said, confirming his plan to run as a candidate for the envisioned new party in the expected upcoming general election.