Abe prepares to announce snap poll in Japan

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is gearing up to dissolve the lower house of parliament and call a snap general election, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai confirmed yesterday.

Prior to Abe’s departure on Monday for a five-day trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, Abe told Nikai during a meeting that he “will decide on the timing of the snap election after returning from the UN General Assembly on Friday”.

Nikai yesterday, during a meeting of ruling LDP executives, reportedly conveyed Abe’s intentions and relayed to local media the party’s determination to get all of its candidates fielded in the race elected.

Head of the LDP’s junior coalition partner Komeito party, Natsuo Yamaguchi, meanwhile, told a press briefing yesterday that he would expedite plans for his party’s participation in the election race, likening the political environment here to a “battlefield”.

“We will start considering how to brace for the election, keeping in mind that we are always in a battlefield,” Yamaguchi said.

Chairman of the Election Strategy Committee, Ryu Shionoya, said a solid structure would be established to ensure a victory, while Policy Research Council chairman Fumio Kishida said plans to draft a manifesto would be accelerated.