Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday reshuffled executive posts of the Liberal Democratic Party and his Cabinet. He is apparently aiming to establish a party and Cabinet setup that will be conducive to his re-election as LDP top leader — a position that promises prime ministership — in a party presidential election to be held in the autumn of 2015.

To help achieve this goal, the prime minister brought Shigeru Ishiba, former LDP secretary general and his political rival, into his Cabinet. Abe hopes to prolong his stay in power by containing Ishiba's political maneuvering through this arrangement. Conspicuously he also gave three female politicians who share an ideological affinity with him important positions in the party and in his new Cabinet. Tomomi Inada is now the LDP's policy chief, Sanae Takaichi is internal affairs and communications minister and Eriko Yamatani is minister in charge of the abduction issue involving North Korea.

While leading his previous Cabinet, Abe pushed through the state secrets law, which could severely limit the people's right to know, thus jeopardizing the foundation of democracy. He also ditched the weapons exports ban, opening the possibility of Japan's weapons and military technologies being used in military conflicts overseas, and changed the long-standing government interpretation of Article 9 of the Constitution so that Tokyo can militarily assist another country even if Japan is not under attack, thus undermining the no-war principle.