"Japan's Next Prime Minister Ishiba to Push for Early General Election on 27th Next Month"

Close Aides and 'No-Faction' Figures Positioned at the Forefront in the Next Cabinet

Shigeru Ishiba, the new leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who will assume office as Japan's Prime Minister on the 1st of next month, has decided to dissolve the House of Representatives (lower house) and hold a snap general election, local media including the Asahi Shimbun reported on the 30th.

According to reports, Prime Minister Ishiba plans to dissolve the House of Representatives on the 9th of next month, announce the election on the 15th, and hold the general election on the 27th. After officially taking office as Prime Minister on the 1st, Ishiba intends to deliver a policy speech at the Diet plenary session, undergo questioning by party leaders starting from the 7th, and then proceed with the dissolution of the House of Representatives. The coalition partner Komeito party has also been informed of this plan, the media said.

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

This is not the first time Ishiba has expressed his intention to hold a snap election. The day before, in response to questions on public broadcaster NHK about the possibility of an October election, he said, "We are keeping various possibilities open," and added, "(The House of Representatives election) should be held as soon as possible."

With the LDP’s influence declining due to a faction slush fund scandal, and a new administration launching amid high public expectations, it appears that Ishiba has judged that an early dissolution of the House of Representatives would be advantageous for the LDP. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) pointed out that "there is also an intention to hold the election while the new cabinet’s approval rating is high, securing enough time to prepare the 2025 fiscal year budget."

Opposition parties, seemingly aware of this intention, have maintained a critical stance toward the snap election. Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, called it a "slush fund dissolution" to avoid scrutiny over political and financial issues before having sufficient grounds to seek public trust, and urged a reinvestigation into the ties between the LDP and the former Unification Church.

Although the new Ishiba administration has caused some noise even before its formal launch, public expectations appear to be quite high. In a public opinion poll conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun on the 28th and 29th among 1,071 voters aged 18 and over (valid respondents), 52% answered "yes" to the question "Do you have expectations for Prime Minister Ishiba?" while 30% said "no" and 17% were "unsure." The LDP’s support rate also rose by 4 percentage points from the previous month to 33%.

Since the Kishida administration was embroiled in a faction slush fund scandal, the next Ishiba cabinet is expected to be filled with "non-faction" close aides. The Asahi reported that among the 19 new cabinet members Ishiba will select, 11 are non-faction members, and none are lawmakers involved in the LDP slush fund scandal. In particular, former members of the "Abe faction," about 30 of whom were disciplined over the slush fund issue, are unlikely to be appointed, the newspaper added.