It has been four months since Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori launched his coalition government. Mori's first Cabinet, inaugurated April 5, remained in office for less than three months before the general election was held June 25. He established his second Cabinet July 3.
So far, the Mori administration has few tangible achievements to its credit. The much ballyhooed Okinawa G8 summit, on which the administration staked its political future, turned into a political show with an all-star cast but with little substance. Gaffe-prone Mori made a few bad slips of the tongue during the election campaign. Immediately after the election, former Construction Minister Eiichi Nakao of Mori's Liberal Democratic Party was arrested in connection with a payoff scandal. Then Kimitaka Kuze, chairman of the Financial Reconstruction Commission and a Mori appointee, was forced to resign for receiving illegal benefits and payments from companies.
Mori's leadership qualities are in serious doubt. Recent opinion polls showed the Mori Cabinet's approval ratings were in the 20-30 percent range and the disapproval ratings were in the 60-70 percent range. The ratings have little changed since the inauguration of the coalition government. This is highly abnormal. The polls also reflected overwhelming public disapproval of the coalition between the LDP and New Komeito, which is backed by Soka Gakkai, a lay Buddhist organization. The Mori administration, which is unlikely to receive much public support in the months ahead, could unravel anytime.