Japan’s incoming prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, says he will dissolve the Lower House next week for a snap election on Oct. 27.
“I believe it’s important for the new administration to be judged by the people as soon as possible,” the newly elected Liberal Democratic Party president said at a news conference announcing the decision Monday.
The timing of the move is highly unusual and not without controversy.
It is the legal duty, as well as the custom, for a sitting prime minister to decide when parliament is to be dissolved and a general election held. But Ishiba, elected LDP president Friday, will not become prime minister until Tuesday when parliament convenes and votes on his nomination as Japan’s next leader.
That, however, did not stop him from earlier saying he would call the Oct. 27 election if conditions were right before taking over from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Admitting that the move is unusual, Ishiba justified his decision by emphasizing that it was still conditional on him being formally chosen by parliament as prime minister.
“Therefore, I said ‘if (conditions are right).’”
With the Oct. 27 election, Ishiba will seek a public mandate on the LDP, whose members hold 255 of the 465 seats in the Lower House.
His new administration, which also formally takes charge Tuesday, includes a number of officials in senior party leadership and the Cabinets of Kishida and former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. But it will conspicuously exclude members of a faction previously led by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Many in the faction were implicated in a slush funds scandal that has damaged public trust in the party.
The LDP leadership is also concerned about the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which elected former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda as its president on Sept. 23. The concern is that Noda’s efforts to shift the CDP more to the center-right could be effective in siphoning off support among more conservative voters angry with the LDP.
An early election, Ishiba hopes, will give the CDP less time to organize itself under Noda, who still faces the daunting task of uniting his party and deciding which in the opposition camp to cooperate with and what form such cooperation should take. A Lower House election does not have to be called until the current term of parliament ends in the fall of 2025.
The timing also means the election will take place before the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential vote. An LDP victory on Oct. 27 would allow the prime minister to deal with the next U.S. administration without worrying about preparations for another nationwide poll until the Upper House election, which is scheduled for the summer of 2025.
Meanwhile, LDP coalition partner Komeito's newly appointed leader, Keiichi Ishii, told reporters Monday that the party will concentrate on getting ready for the election — especially in the Kansai area, its traditional bastion, but where it will compete against Nippon Ishin no Kai for the first time.
"I think we can build a new history for the coalition," Ishii said, referring to the ruling bloc’s new leadership lineups.
Parliament is expected to be dissolved on Oct. 9.
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