Indifferent New Leader

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 affiliates 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 still hoping to maintain his administration with winning of the election. 

After Kishida's announcement, Suga miscalculated the politics. He decided to replace LDP General Secretary Toshihiro Nikai and tried to dissolute House of Representatives before LDP presidential election, which move was criticized by party members, because it was likely for LDP to reduce a lot of House seats in that immediate election. Suga's handling of COVID-19 policy and reluctant attitude in explaining to the people were highly unpopular. 

Taro Kono, son of former president Yohei Kono, raised his hand for running as soon as Suga abandoned to be reelected. Being dubbed "a heretic in LDP," though, Kono had been enjoying high popularity from ordinary party affiliates expecting changes. Advocating shutting down of nuclear reactors in power plants or same sex marriage, Kono is one of the brightest hopes in the party, appealing various young voters with diverse values. But, his relatively radical opinions generated anxiety among old and conservative lawmakers. Shigeru Ishiba's support for Kono also stimulated antagonism of main stream members including Abe. 

One key word of Kishida's victory would be stability. He denied reinvestigation of Abe's scandal of Moritomo to avoid conflict inside the party. While succeeding policy for constitutional amendment or maintaining nuclear fuel recycling project, however, Kishida upholds change of new liberalism economy that focuses on growth leaving low income people behind. To salvage them, he takes a slogan of former Premier Hayato Ikeda, founding father of Kishida group, Income Doubling Plan. 

For opposition parties, new Prime Minister seems not easier to criticize than a highly conservative leader with apparently different policies. But, it is obvious that any leader cannot perfectly handle COVID infection. So far, Kishida has no specific plan for improving devastated situation other than delivering economic package amounting to tens of trillion yen. His face value to win next general election in November is still unclear. 

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