Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is unlikely to dissolve the House of Representatives in early September for a general election, as previously expected, as it would coincide with the extended COVID-19 state of emergency, ruling coalition sources have said.
Suga's earlier strategy had been to vaccinate the population against COVID-19 as quickly as possible, stage a successful Olympic Games to boost public sentiment and then dissolve the more powerful chamber of the Diet for a general election after the Tokyo Paralympics close on Sept. 5.
But with a resurgence of infections showing no signs of abating, the government on Tuesday decided to add seven prefectures to the emergency declaration, and extend the deadline for Tokyo and other areas already under the declaration to Sept. 12.