Japan PM to call election on taking office
Parliament must be sworn in by Nov 28
Japan’s new prime minister, Fumio Kishida, exchanged fist bumps with lawmakers after he was formally elected by parliament yesterday, as public broadcaster NHK said he was set to dissolve the body next week and call an election on Oct 31.
Earlier in the day, Mr Kishida unveiled a cabinet line-up featuring stalwarts of the ruling party and allies of former prime minister Shinzo Abe and ex-finance minister Taro Aso.
NHK said Mr Kishida would announce the election date in his first news conference as prime minister and dissolve parliament on Oct 14.
His plan to call for an election so quickly was regarded as a surprise, even though one has to take place by Nov 28, as parliament’s term ends on Oct 21.
Aside from taking advantage of the honeymoon period usually given to new governments by the electorate, analysts said Mr Kishida probably didn’t want to lose time, given risks posed by the pandemic.
“He will likely want to preempt any further deterioration in the Covid-19 situation,” Corey Wallace, an expert in Japanese politics at Kanagawa University, said.
“While the progress of the vaccination campaign has clearly helped suppress the fifth wave, we can’t be absolutely sure that a sixth wave will not occur getting closer to winter,” he added.
New coronavirus cases in Tokyo yesterday totalled 87, the lowest since Nov 2 last year.
Mr Kishida’s predecessor Yoshihide Suga enjoyed support ratings of about 70% soon after taking office a year ago, but was pummelled by criticism of his handling of the pandemic, leading him to make way for a new face to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) through the election.
Mr Kishida, 64, a former foreign minister with an image as a low-key consensus builder, beat out three contenders last week to lead the party and was formally elected premier by parliament yesterday.
Mr Kishida’s cabinet features allies of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving premier, who quit last year citing ill health as his dream of another term faded, though Mr Suga inherited his stance.
Of the 20 posts, 13 were filled by people with no prior cabinet experience, in line with Mr Kishida’s pledge to give chances to new people, but the majority of heavyweight jobs went to allies of Mr Abe, or outgoing finance minister Taro Aso.
“He won the election with the support of Abe and Aso, so now it’s time for him to return the favour, it’s not the time for him to cut them off,” said political analyst Atsuo Ito.
One of those closest to Mr Abe is Akira Amari, who has promised a big extra budget after the election, and told reporters yesterday it would need to include steps to ameliorate social divisions and Covid-19.
“So we need to empathise with the people and share their pain and our leader needs to show the path to unite society and to make it one again,” he said.
Mr Aso’s replacement at the finance ministry is his low-profile brother-inlaw, Shunichi Suzuki, who is viewed as likely to continue the government’s policy of tempering growth spending with fiscal reform.
The trade and industry portfolio was also given to another ally of Mr Abe, current education minister Koichi Hagiuda.
Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi, who is Mr Abe’s brother, retained his position, as did Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, reflecting Mr Kishida’s intention to continue Mr Abe and Mr Suga’s push to boost the nation’s defences, strengthen security ties with the United States and other partners including the Quad grouping — Japan, India, the US and Australia — while preserving trade ties with China.
Mr Kishida also created a new post of economy security minister and filled it with a close ally of Mr Amari, the architect of policies aimed at protecting sensitive technology from China in areas such as supply chains and cyber security. There are three women in the line-up, one more than Mr Suga had, but none of them hold a heavyweight portfolio.