AFTER STORMING TO MAJORITY VOTE WIN, ABE TARGETS NORTH KOREA
TOKYO:
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stormed to a landslide “super-majority” in snap Japanese elections, near complete projections showed Monday, with the hardline nationalist immediately pledging to “deal firmly” with North Korea.
Abe’s conservative coalition is on track to win at least 312 seats with only a handful left to call, according to public broadcaster NHK, giving him a coveted two-thirds majority in the lower house of parliament.
That will allow him to pursue his cherished goal of proposing changes to the country’s pacifist constitution to beef up the status of the military, which is effectively restricted to self-defence.
Abe, 63, is now on course to become Japan’s longest-serving premier, winning a fresh term at the helm of the world’s thirdbiggest economy and key US regional ally.
The hawkish prime minister said the crushing election victory had hardened his resolve to deal with the crisis in North Korea, which has threatened to “sink” Japan into the sea and fired two missiles over its northern islands.
“As I promised in the election, my imminent task is to firmly deal with North Korea. For that, strong diplomacy is required,” stressed Abe, who has courted both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, while local media acknowledged what was described as a “landslide” victory, many chalked up Abe’s win to a weak and ineffective opposition and urged caution.
“The voters didn’t think the opposition parties were capable of running a government... they chose Prime Minister Abe, who is at least better, even if they had some concerns about the ruling coalition,” said the daily. Nikkei The Asahi newspaper said: “The Abe brand is not as strong as it was before. There are some signs that voters are seeking a change in the situation whereby Abe is the only decent option.”
“Winning an election in a democracy doesn’t give the winner carte-blanche and he would be overconfident if he thought people were satisfied with the past five years of government management,” said the paper.
According to an exit poll by on Sunday, 51 percent of voters said they do not trust Abe with 44 percent saying they did. Kyodo News
Turnout was expected to be only a fraction higher than alltime low set in the 2014 election and was boosted largely by people voting early to avoid a typhoon, which smashed into Japan on election day.
Shinzo Abe on Monday said the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-komeito blocs overwhelming victory in the general election represented a “historic” level of public confidence in his leadership and that he will take the result as a powerful endorsement of his policies, including revising the pacifist Constitution.
With Sunday’s victory, Abe silenced doubts about his leadership ahead of imminent meetings with world leaders, including US President Donald Trump next month, the Japan Times reported.
Abe also announced his intention to seek re-election as Prime Minister at the Diet, possibly as soon as November 1, when a special Diet session is reportedly set to be convened, and then “swiftly launch a new Cabinet.”
“I am very grateful that the Japanese public has powerfully encouraged us to move forward with our politics based on the solid foundation of our leadership,” Abe told a packed news conference at the headquarters of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
According to media tallies, Abe’s LDP had secured 281 seats by itself, well beyond the “overwhelming majority” of 261 seats that lets the LDP appoint all chairs as well as a majority of the members in the Lower House standing committees.
The LDP’S impressive showing marked the third consecutive time it has won a majority in the Lower House. Abe said the accomplishment under the same Prime Minister was a firstever feat in the party’s 62-year-old history.