Both Diet houses name Kishida as prime minister

Liberal Democratic Party President Fumio Kishida, 64, was named the new prime minister Monday afternoon at extraordinary sessions of both houses of the Diet. He immediately formed his Cabinet, which was inaugurated Monday night. Measures to combat the novel coronavirus and rebuild the economy will be among the urgent issues to be tackled by the new administration.

“From here on out is the start in the true sense of the word,” Kishida said to reporters as he entered LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Monday morning. “I want to go ahead with a strong mind and strong determination.”

The House of Representatives and the House of Councillors held respective votes in the afternoon to confirm Kishida as the new prime minister. After his appointment as prime minister, Kishida met Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of the LDP’s junior coalition partner Komeito, at the Prime Minister’s Office to confirm that the coalition government will be maintained.

All members of the new Cabinet were decided. The key posts are filled by leading figures of major LDP factions. Hirokazu Matsuno, 59, a former education, culture, sports, science and technology minister who belongs to the largest Hosoda faction, is the chief cabinet secretary, while Shunichi Suzuki, 68, a former chairperson of the LDP General Council who is a member of the Aso faction, has been appointed finance minister.

Thirteen of the 20 ministers have joined a cabinet for the first time.

Three ministers are overseeing measures to handle the novel coronavirus. Acting chairperson of the LDP Policy Research Council Shigeyuki Goto, 65, who does not belong to any intraparty faction, is the health, labor and welfare minister. Former State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Daishiro Yamagiwa, 53, a member of the Aso faction, is the minister in charge of coronavirus measures and economic revitalization, while former State Minister of Environment Noriko Horiuchi, 55, a member of the Kishida faction, is the minister in charge of vaccine programs.

Horiuchi is one of a trio of new cabinet members who are relatively junior lawmakers, elected to the House of Representatives just three times. The other two are former Parliamentary Vice Minister of Defense Takayuki Kobayashi, 46, who belongs to the Nikai faction and has taken up the newly created post of economic security minister, and LDP Youth Division Director Karen Makishima, 44, who belongs to the Aso faction and is the digital minister.

Former Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Seiko Noda, 61, who vied with Kishida for the LDP presidency, is the minister in charge of measures to deal with the low birthrate and regional revitalization.

Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, 65, and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, 62, have retained their posts. Koichi Hagiuda, 58, previously the education, culture, sports, science and technology minister, is now the economy, trade and industry minister.

Kishida had initially planned to hold the House of Representatives election on Nov. 7, with official campaigning to start on Oct. 26. However, he decided to move the schedule up in light of the situation in which coronavirus infections have subsided and to allow the fiscal 2021 supplementary budget, which includes COVID-19 measures, to pass the Diet by the end of the year.

Kishida is officially the 100th prime minister. The ordinal numbers used in the official counting of prime ministers are based on the term between the person being named prime minister forming a cabinet and the cabinet resigning en masse. Even if the same person assumes the post, the number increases, so the ordinal number is higher than the actual number of individuals who have served as prime minister.

SUGA CABINET RESIGNS EN MASSE

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga resigned en masse Monday morning during an extraordinary Cabinet meeting.

Suga, who took office on Sept. 16, 2020, served in the post for 384 days.

“Searching for ways to contain the coronavirus, we were able to mobilize the power of the Cabinet to get vaccinations done quickly,” Suga said at the meeting.

(Published in print on Oct. 5)