THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
August 4, 2021 at 18:02 JST
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga heads to a meeting of executives of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Aug. 3. (Koichi Ueda)
A top power broker in the ruling party is backing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to remain at the party’s top post amid signs of dissent in the ranks over party leadership.
Toshihiro Nikai, the powerful secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, made clear he would stop any effort to remove Suga from his role as LDP president.
“I do not see any significance in replacing Suga (as LDP president) immediately,” Nikai said, referring to the fact that Suga has been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic every day. “I believe everyone is of the understanding that the incumbent has an extremely high possibility of being re-elected.”
Nikai’s comments come as some younger LDP lawmakers express dissatisfaction with the falling approval ratings of Suga’s Cabinet, largely over its handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Some have even said that if Suga remains at the party helm, the LDP would not be able to put up a fight in the Lower House election that must be held this fall.
Suga’s term as party president ends at the end of September, and the first meeting of the committee overseeing the LDP’s presidential election was held Aug. 3.
No date has been set for when the official campaign will begin and when voting will take place. It is Suga’s call on when to dissolve the Lower House and hold a snap election.
If a Lower House election is held when the LDP presidential race is scheduled, the party’s vote would be shelved until the parliamentary election is over.
But the slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations has clouded Suga’s hopes to hold a snap Lower House election while public satisfaction of his administration is on the rise.
One option currently being spitballed by LDP officials is extending Suga‘s current presidential term to give him greater leeway in when he calls the snap Lower House election.
(This article was written by Yuichi Nobira and Takashi Narazaki.)
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