JAPAN PREMIER’S SUPPORT SLUMPS MORE THAN 10 POINTS
Tokyo, June 18: Support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe slumped more than 10 points to 44.9 per cent in a public opinion poll published on Sunday amid opposition party suspicions he used his influence unfairly to help a friendset up a business.
Mr Abe has repeatedly denied abusing his authority to benefithis friend. His grip on power is not in danger, given his ruling coalition’s huge majority in parliament, but the affair looksunlikely to fade away.
The education ministry unearthed documents last week that the Opposition said suggested Mr Abe wanted a new veterinary school run by a friend to be approved in a state-run special economic zone. The ministry had earlier said it could not find the documents but reopened the probe under public pressure.
Opposition politicians and the media have identified Mr Abe’s friend as Kotaro Kake, the director of the Kake Educational Institution, which wants to open a veterinary department. The government has not approved new veterinary schools for decades because of concern about a glut of veterinarians.
Nearly 85 per cent of voters responding to a Kyodo news agency survey said they did not think the government probe had uncovered the truth of the affair and almost 74 per cent were not persuaded by the government’s insistence that there was nothing wrong with the approval process.