Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may have tamed the opposition camp for at least three years, but he faces some immediate internal challenges stemming from the death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

With the ruling coalition adding to its majority in the July 10 Upper House election, Kishida has gained a “golden period” of political calm. He does not have to face another national election for three years, unless he decides to call one himself.

However, he will first need to reshuffle his Cabinet and the executive lineup of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. And this is where complications could arise.

Abe, who was fatally shot while giving a campaign speech in Nara on July 8, was Japan’s longest-serving postwar prime minister.

During his seven years and eight months in power in his second leadership stint until August 2020, Abe solidified support and gained loyalty from conservative elements in the party. He also headed the largest LDP faction, with more than 90 members.

Kishida’s LDP faction, which contains liberal elements, is roughly half the size of Abe’s and the fourth largest in the party.

The prime minister may have to create a new order in the LDP following the death of one of its most influential figures.

While the Abe faction has yet to reach a consensus on a new leader, political observers are focused on whether Kishida will continue to maintain a power balance between the factions when appointing new Cabinet members and LDP executives.

It also remains to be seen whether Kishida will give a post to his predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, who does not belong to any faction and was Abe’s right-hand man.

Kishida received help, including support from Abe, to win the LDP presidential election and become prime minister last year. When Kishida took office in October 2021, he was forced to give Cabinet posts evenly to members from the party’s four major factions as a reward for their help.

One senior LDP official repeatedly said that Kishida can do whatever he wants if he wins the Upper House election because he can focus on his policy measures during the “golden period” until 2025.

The appointments in his reshuffled Cabinet and LDP lineup could provide an indication of whether Kishida will focus on his own policies or promote constitutional revision and economic measures that had been pushed by Abe.

The prime minister will also need to set mid- and long-term political agendas.

Kishida plans to create a new Cabinet post in charge of startups in an apparent attempt to achieve his goal of doubling the people’s income. He mentioned that policy in the LDP’s leadership election last autumn.

It also remains to be seen who Kishida will appoint as the successor to Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, whose term expires next spring.

Kuroda pushed for a continuation of the ultra-loose monetary policy, one of the three arrows of Abe’s package of economic measures known as “Abenomics.”

But the recent depreciation of the yen has been blamed for triggering “bad inflation.”

During the Upper House election, Kishida steered away from discussions on revising the country’s pacifist Constitution.

But the election results gave parties that are in favor of revisions or open to such changes more than a two-thirds majority in the Upper House. And Kishida has now indicated he would pursue amendments.

Initiating what would be the first revisions of the postwar Constitution requires approval from two-thirds of lawmakers in both Diet chambers.

Some in the LDP are calling on Kishida to continue Abe’s political push to revise the Constitution.

“Abe wanted to amend the Constitution, beef up national defense and boost the economy,” Sanae Takaichi, the LDP policy chief, said on a radio program aired by Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Inc. on July 10. “I would like to carry out his wishes with like-minded people.”

But is Kishida one of those like-minded people?

His associate indicated that the prime minister intends to prioritize social security reform and other pressing issues.

“He is not particularly rushing to amend the Constitution,” the associate said. “Some policy measures have been left untouched for the past decades.”

Appearing on Tokyo FM Broadcasting Co.’s July 10 program, Tatsuo Fukuda, chairman of the LDP General Council, said, “In addition to constitutional revision, we have lots of issues to tackle both domestically and internationally.”

Kishida has yet to clarify his stance on what amendments he feels are necessary. If he pushes ahead with discussions on revisions, his administration will need to pour in significant resources.