Abe to face battle for political survival
JAPAN: Japan’s beleaguered Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces a
battle for his political life as parliament opens today. with a newly
empowered opposition set to do all it can to bring him down.
Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was crushed in July elections
after a raft of scandals, handing the opposition control of the upper
house of parliament for the first time since the LDP was founded in
1955.
A key battle in the two-month parliamentary session will be over
legislation on extending a Japanese naval mission that refuels planes
and ships for US-led forces in Afghanistan.
Abe, who returns to Tokyo from an Asia-Pacific summit in Sydney, has
received support from a slew of Western nations for prolonging the
mission. But the centre-left opposition wants Japan to bring home its
ships and has not budged, setting the stage for Abe to suffer
international embarrassment.
The opposition is also expected to flex its muscle in parliament by
seeking symbolic censure motions against scandal-hit cabinet ministers
and possibly Abe himself.
Abe, an outspoken conservative and Japan’s first premier born after
World War II, took office nearly a year ago with a popular, youthful
image.
But his cabinet has been plagued by scandals and gaffes, with four
ministers quitting and another committing suicide.
He reshuffled his cabinet on August 27 in hopes of a fresh start, but
just one week later his new farm minister resigned over financial
wrongdoing.Similar allegations have also been levelled against the
latest farm minister.
With even some LDP backbenchers asking Abe to quit, analysts and
media speculate it is only a matter of time before he steps down or
calls a snap general election.
Opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, known as a brusque but shrewd
political tactician, has instructed his Democratic party to get ready
for early polls, saying the parliament session “may be an important
turning point in politics.”
“I think a snap general election within this year or early next year
is one of the scenarios,” said Jun Iio, professor of politics at the
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
“If Abe’s government proves to be too weak to operate in parliament,
then the LDP may judge that a snap election at a very early date is
better for them before the Democratic Party is completely ready for an
election,” he said.
“At the moment, the Democrats have prepared only 200 candidates for
300 constituencies in the lower house, and under these circumstances,
LDP candidates could take advantage of their higher name recognition.”
But Iio thinks a more likely scenario is that Abe will eventually
hand over to former foreign minister Taro Aso, a veteran LDP politician
who became the party’s secretary general last month, and that Aso would
call a snap election.
In his policy speech to the lower house session, Abe is expected to
focus on “shadows of reforms” started by his popular predecessor
Junichiro Koizumi, addressing the gap between cities and rural areas,
which have not enjoyed the fruits of Japan’s economic recovery, public
broadcaster NHK reported.
Tokyo, Sunday, AFP |
