Abe may have option for lower house breakup  in autumn 2018

March 8, 2017

TOKYO- Now that the maximum term for the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been extended, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to elaborate his strategy for dissolving the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, for a snap election.

Possible options for Abe, also LDP chief, include a Lower House breakup in autumn next year following the party’s leadership election in September in that year, informed sources said.c With some LDP executives already saying they back Abe in the upcoming leadership race, he apparently has no rival candidates at present, the sources said. But given that a Lower House breakup in autumn next year would be too close to the expiration in December the same year of the four-year term of current Lower House members, some LDP officials still believe that Abe may dissolve the chamber in autumn this year, the sources said. Jiji Press