JAPAN’S FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER KISHIDA TO BECOME NEW PREMIER

Wed 29 September 2021:

Fumio Kishida, Japan’s former foreign minister, has won the ruling party’s leadership election, virtually ensuring that he will be the country’s next prime minister.

Kishida defeated Taro Kono, a popular vaccines minister who previously held the offices of defense and foreign minister, in a runoff on Wednesday, by 257 votes.

Under pressure for a weaker anti-coronavirus policy, Suga earlier this month announced he will step down as premier and will not run for party leadership.

Kishida is set to be elected prime minister during a special parliament session to be held on Monday.

The LDP saw a four-way leadership contest which included two female candidates – including Sanae Takaichi, a former communications minister; and Seiko Noda, the LDP executive acting secretary general.

They lost in the first round and party leadership elections went for runoff between Kishida and Kono.

As Japan tries to deal with an assertive China and restore an economy ravaged by the pandemic, Kishida’s victory is unlikely to result in a major policy shift, with the soft-spoken legislator emphasizing the need of reducing wealth imbalance.

Corey Wallace, a Japanese politics expert at the Kanagawa University, said Kishida’s victory was “not a surprise”.

“I expect that Kishida and his cabinet will try to be reasonably equanimous and thus he will distribute positions throughout the factions to keep party peace,” he told the Reuters news agency.

“If he is smart and does try to address the interests of the middle class better, as he said he would, he may end up being a longer-lived premier than many are predicting,” said Wallace. “If he does not, then he may face trouble in the upper house election next year, rather than the one coming up where he should benefit from stimulus and a honeymoon period.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent