With the recent session of parliament having come to an end, speculation has now turned to whether Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will order a Cabinet reshuffle and changes to top leadership in the Liberal Democratic Party.

Both moves, if made, would be aimed at boosting his popularity and strengthening his position within the LDP ahead of an autumn parliament session expected to take up the controversial issues of how to finance a new child care policy and defense spending increases approved in the session that wrapped up on Wednesday.

Kishida remained vague during a Wednesday news conference when asked if he would reshuffle the Cabinet and initiate changes in party leadership. But he added that he was thinking about who would be best placed to carry out his policies.

“At present, I’m not thinking anything concrete in terms of personnel changes and their timing. Instead, I'm concentrating on difficult policy issues that can’t be postponed. While monitoring the progress of those issues, I’ll consider what personnel are needed to get results,” he said.

Asked about the prospect of a Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi said Kishida will make the appropriate decision when the time is right.

Some media reports say a reshuffle and party leadership changes could take place in August, after what will be a busy diplomatic schedule in July and then September, before the autumn parliament session begins.

Next month, Kishida will attend a NATO summit in Lithuania and follow that up with visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Then the prime minister will attend the G20 Leaders Summit in New Delhi, on Sept. 9-10, before world leaders convene in late September at the United Nations General Assembly for discussions on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and climate change.

Kishida heads into the rest of the summer facing low ratings. A Kyodo News poll on Sunday showed support for his Cabinet had dropped to 40.8%, down from 47% in late May, while his disapproval rating stood at 41.6%. A Mainichi Shimbun poll taken over the weekend was worse, with only 33% supporting him and 58% disapproving.

The low numbers are due to concerns about some of Kishida's key policies. His push to replace health insurance cards with new My Number cards by the autumn of next year — despite the system repeatedly making headlines for being error prone — has the public worried about personal information leaks.

Kishida also runs the risk of a further decline in popularity, facing tough debates with not only the opposition parties but also his fellow LDP members over tax increases for additional defense spending and child care policies. The aim of a Cabinet reshuffle and an LDP leadership change would be to help reboot his popularity and head into the autumn parliament session in a stronger position on these issues.

If Kishida orders an LDP leadership change, whether he keeps Motegi — who may challenge the prime minister for LDP presidency and thus the premiership next year — will be closely watched. Motegi traveled to the U.S. last month in what was widely seen as an attempt to raise his profile, in preparation for a challenge to Kishida.

Motegi also heads a 54 member party faction, the LDP’s third largest. However, former Upper House kingmaker Mikio Aoki, who died last week and had been advising the Motegi faction, backed Yuko Obuchi for a larger role in the Kishida administration. She is a Motegi faction member, former trade minister and daughter of former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.

Yuko, whose father and Aoki together brokered the coalition with Komeito back in 1999, might be tapped for a post in a reshuffle or leadership change, as Kishida seeks to strengthen ties with Komeito — a party with which Motegi is not as close.

Kishida must also decide what to do with digital minister Taro Kono. Though he had been named in some opinion polls as the public’s top choice for prime minister, Kono is now being blamed for the problems with the government’s shift to the My Number cards, and Kishida might choose to replace him.