Tokyo: In order to prepare for the general election, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba formally dissolved the lower house of the Japanese parliament on Wednesday. Ishiba is attempting to gain a majority for his party in the house.
According to Xinhua news agency, the general election is scheduled for October 27. Campaigning is expected to start on October 15.
On September 27, Ishiba emerged victorious in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential election, and on October 1, the coalition headed by the LDP secured the position of Prime Minister in the legislature.
In Japan’s postwar history, this was the shortest time span between the inauguration of a prime minister and the lower house’s dissolution.
Following the revelation of the LDP’s political funding scandal in late 2023, this general election will be the first.
Ishiba, 67, pledged to rebuild public confidence in politics after a string of scandals and attempted to reassure the populace in the face of growing living expenses in his first policy address to the parliament last week.
The LDP resolved on Wednesday not to officially support 12 legislators involved in the political finance scandal as candidates in the forthcoming election in response to public outcry.
Previously holding 258 members in the 465-member lower house, the LDP dominated Japan for the majority of the post-war period while forming a coalition with Komeito, which had 32 seats.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which held 99 seats and is headed by former prime minister Yoshihiko Noda, is the major opposition.
Important concerns such as reactions to inflation, economic measures, and political change in the wake of the LDP’s financing problems are anticipated to be the main focal points of the election. The opposition parties want to coordinate with each other and concentrate on weakening the LDP’s hegemony.
