J Update

Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday elected Fumio  Kishida , former Minister of Foreign Affairs in  Shinzo  Abe administration, to its supreme leader.  Although he could not achieve simple majority in the first ballot,  which  votes were distributed in even proportion between  all LDP lawmakers and the party affil iates all around Japan ,  Kishida  secured stable majority in the second ballot, gathering other candidates' votes.   While  Kishida  is designated to next Prime Minister succeeding  Yoshihide   Suga , it is still unclear that the party will be able to obtain stable victory  in coming general election of House of Representatives .   Kishida's  announcement of running to LDP presidential election was earlier than the most expected.  At the time  Kishida  had a press conference for his running, August 26th,  incumbent president, meaning Prime Minister,  Suga  was ...

It is not very rare in Japanese politics that an administration succeeding powerful leadership lives quite short. Though the reason is still not clear, the successors seem to bear heavy burden accumulated in the previous administration. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s announcement of resignation as Prime Minister reflected political debt from his predecessor Shinzo Abe, who maintained his cabinet for over seven years. While Suga emphasized his intention to devote his power before he leaves not to election strategy, but to management for containment of COVID-19 infection, it was obvious that he was too desperate in maintaining his cabinet with recent precipitation of supporting rate. Facing growing anxiety in Liberal Democratic Party on his political mishandlings, which may cause negative impact of on next general election of House of Representatives this fall, Suga badly tried to renew the members of LDP senior leaders for his survival. Abe’s denial of Suga’s idea of having the general...