FUMIO KISHIDA TAKES OFFICE AS JAPAN’S 100TH PRIME MINISTER

Mon 04 October 2021:

In an extraordinary session of the House of Representatives on Monday, Fumio Kishida, the head of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was elected prime minister.

In the 465-seat lower house, the 64-year-old former foreign minister received 311 votes. Later in the day, he and his Cabinet are due to be sworn in.

He is expected to dissolve the lower house later this month in order to call national elections on October 31.

Kishida has promised a “new capitalism” that includes narrowing the income gap and boosting consumer spending. He said the eponymous economic policies of Abe — known as “Abenomics” — failed to “trickle down” from the rich to the poor. He has also proposed a hefty recovery package worth “several tens of trillions” of yen to steer Japan’s economy out of its pandemic-induced slump.

Kishida served as the country’s foreign minister from 2012 to 2017, under Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. He succeeds outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who announced earlier this month he would not run in his party’s leadership election following a turbulent term marked by a slump in public support as he struggled to contain the coronavirus.

In a tweet, Suga said he could not have achieved “anything at all” without the citizens’ cooperation.

“I extend from the bottom of my heart my gratitude and respect to you for your support and cooperation you have given to the Cabinet that worked for the people over the past year. I thank you all most sincerely,” he said.

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