Abe Says Not Considering Snap Election

June 20, 2019

Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday that he has no intention of calling a snap election for the all-important House of Representatives.

"The word 'dissolution' is not even in the back of my mind," Abe said during a parliamentary debate with party leaders, in response to a question about whether or not he plans to dissolve the Lower House for a snap election during the current Diet session, scheduled to end on June 26.

Asked about his response to a possible no-confidence motion against his cabinet or a censure motion against him from the opposition camp, Abe only said, "How the situation will develop is unpredictable."

Following the parliamentary debate, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan chief Yukio Edano told reporters that the main opposition party will consider introducing a no-confidence motion in the Lower House, a flip-flop of its earlier plan to forgo one.

Edano accused Abe of avoiding directly answering questions in the parliamentary debate, the first since June last year.

In the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, the CDPJ and other opposition parties are poised to submit a censure motion against Finance Minister Taro Aso, who doubles as minister of state for financial services.

During the debate, opposition leaders questioned Abe about a controversial Financial Services Agency estimate that suggested a postretirement couple would need an average of 20 million yen in savings to live comfortably on a pension.

Referring to Aso's refusal to accept the estimate, Edano argued that the government is hoping the report will be forgotten.

The Abe administration "doesn't acknowledge the anxieties of many voters (about the public pension system), only insisting that it's secure," Edano stressed.

Abe admitted that the FSA estimate caused "big misunderstandings." He noted that the government is "revising the system while facing up to the realities."

The prime minister said he wants a once-in-five-year pension financing review to be conducted independently of the political situation. Jiji Press