Abe govt wants voters’ verdict on achievements: LDP member

September 24, 2017

TOKYO- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will dissolve the House of Representatives for a snap election in order to obtain voters' verdict on his government's achievements, a ruling party official said Sunday.

Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers criticized the planned dissolution of the lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament, expected to take place at the outset of the upcoming extraordinary Diet session on Thursday.

Abe is trying to use his authority to dissolve the all-important chamber for his personal purposes, they said in a television program broadcast by Japan Broadcasting Corp., or NHK.

"The biggest point is whether the Abe government would be able to win public confidence in its policy measures and achievements over the past four and a half years," said Koichi Hagiuda, executive acting secretary-general of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party.

"It's time to receive voters' verdict on our economic and national security policies," said Tetsuo Saito, election policy head of Komeito, the LDP's partner in the ruling coalition.

Atsushi Oshima, secretary-general of the biggest opposition Democratic Party, noted that Abe promised to make full explanations about favoritism scandals involving Moritomo Gakuen and Kake Educational Institution.

The promise would vanish if Abe dissolves the Lower House at the beginning of the Diet session as reported, Oshima went on. "This is a question of his attitude toward politics."

Akira Koike, head of the Japanese Communist Party's secretariat, said the main purpose of the expected dissolution should be to block debates on scandals.

Hagiuda defended Abe's reported plan to remake the social security system, which has focused intensively on the elderly, into one that provides support to a wider range of the public, including younger generations.

This plan is controversial because it will reportedly require a change in the use of additional tax revenue from a planned consumption tax hike that was set years ago. Jiji Press