Snap election expected from Japanese PM

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With the advantage of improved ratings and opposition in disarray, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to announce a snap election for October on Monday, despite criticism that he is creating a political vacuum amid worries over Pyongyang.

Abe is expected to meet with party executives and then hold a news conference, and will likely put pledges to spend on education and child care, stay tough on Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and revise the constitution at the centre of his campaign.

Abe, whose ratings have risen to around 50 percent from around 30 percent in July, is gambling that his ruling bloc can keep its lower house majority even if they lose the two-thirds "super majority" needed to achieve his long-held goal of revising the post-war pacifist constitution to clarify the military's role.

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A weekend survey by the Nikkei business daily survey showed 44 percent of voters planned to vote for Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) versus eight percent for the main opposition Democratic Party. That was higher than the 27.7 percent a Kyodo news agency survey showed voting for Abe's party, with 42.2 percent undecided.

Abe's image as a hard-line leader has bolstered his ratings amid rising tensions over DPRK's nuclear and missile programs and overshadowed opposition criticism of the premier for the suspected cronyism scandals that had eroded his support.

Given recent cases abroad, where elections have led to unexpected results, political analysts are not ruling out what one called a "nasty surprise" for the Japanese leader.

Opposition party officials have said calling an election would be an attempt by Abe to dodge questioning over the cronyism scandals in a session of parliament set to begin on Thursday.

Abe is expected to dissolve the chamber that same day.

2 trillion yen stimulus package

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Sources have said Abe's election platform will see him promise to go ahead with a planned rise in the national sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent in 2019 but increase the proportion of revenue spent on child care and education, delaying a target of putting the budget in the black in the fiscal year ending March 2021.

He will also tell his cabinet to compile a 2 trillion yen (17.8 billion US dollars) economic package by year-end, composed mostly of spending on child care and education, government sources said.

Source(s): Reuters