Rivals jockeying to replace Japan PM
Rivals are jockeying to replace Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as the embattled Japanese leader struggles with sinking support, but so far none have offered detailed policy alternatives to his “strong defence, strong economy” platform.
Battered by scandals involving suspected cronyism, Abe’s ratings have slid near or below 30 per cent, dampening his chances of gaining a third three-year term as Liberal Democratic Party leader in a September vote, and sparking talk he might step down sooner.
Former foreign minister Fumio Kishida, a low-key lawmaker seen as a leading contender, edged closer to an outright challenge on Wednesday, unveiling slogans that called for “checks and balances on power” and “bottom-up” decision making.
Abe, who began his second stint as prime minister in December 2012, has been criticised as having an authoritarian bent, although fans admire what they see as strong leadership.
“I am called am an who doesn’ t or can not take a leap, but... I will show that I will act when a crisis comes,” Kishida said to cheers from supporters at a fundraising party. He earlier told reporters he had not decided whether to run.
Other potential successors include hawkish ex-defence minister Shigeru Ishiba; Internal Affairs Minister Seiko Noda, the only contender to say publicly she wants to run in September; and Foreign Minister Taro Kono, a 55-year-old lawmaker known for bucking party policy.
Shinjiro Koizumi, 37, the popular and telegenic son of an ex-premier, ranks high in polls but is widely seen as too young to jump the LDP seniority queue.
A reserved former banker, Kishida, 60, hails from a more dovish faction of the conservative LDP. He has been less than enthusiastic about Abe’s project of revising the post-war, paciist constitution. For Abe, amending the Us-drafted charter - seen by some conservatives as a humiliating symbol of Japan’s defeat in World War Two - has long been a top priority.
On the economy, Kishida has said the Bank of Japan’s hyper-easy monetary policy - a pillar of the premier’s “Abenomics” growth strategy - can’t go on forever and has urged greater attention to reining in the country’s enormous public debt.
Similar criticisms of Abenomics have also been aired by Ishiba, with an added focus on reviving Japan’s struggling rural regions. His proposals for doing so, however, have so far lacked details.