Prime Minister Fumio Kishida looks set to retain two veteran Liberal Democratic Party leaders in their posts in a Cabinet and LDP leadership reshuffle that could take place as early as next week.
In Indonesia on Thursday at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, Kishida told reporters the timing of the reshuffle had yet to be decided. But Kyodo News and other Japanese media outlets reported Thursday and Friday that he could make Cabinet and party leadership changes as early as Wednesday.
At the top of the LDP, Kishida appears ready to keep party heavyweights Taro Aso, who serves as LDP vice president, and Toshimitsu Motegi, the party’s secretary-general, in their positions. Aso, who will turn 83 on Sept. 20 and served as prime minister in 2008 and 2009, is also the head of a 55-member LDP faction, the party’s second largest.