Japan’s Abe Not to Give Key Post to Ishiba

September 26, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will not to give any key post to Shigeru Ishiba, who challenged Abe in the Liberal Democratic Party leadership race last week, informed sources said Tuesday.

Abe plans to reshuffle the cabinet and the ruling party's executive team in early October. But no important post will go to Ishiba, former secretary-general, according to senior officials of the Abe administration.

The prime minister, who was reelected to a new three-year term as LDP president, also intends to remove Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Ken Saito, a member of the party's faction led by Ishiba.

Meanwhile, Abe is making preparations to retain Koichi Hagiuda as executive acting secretary-general of the party.

Ishiba performed better than many had expected in the election, gaining 45 pct of the votes by rank-and-file LDP members and supporters.

Ishiba has signaled his intention to decline any offer of a key post from Abe, with their policies on important issues including the economy and constitutional amendments differing greatly.

Abe has found it difficult to give any key post to Ishiba in order to maintain the stability of his administration, the sources said.

In Thursday's LDP election, Saito was the only supporter of Ishiba in the cabinet. Saito said an Abe supporter told him to resign as minister if he wanted to back Ishiba, triggering a blame game between the Abe and Ishiba camps.

Abe apparently worries that his supporters may be frustrated if Saito is retained as a cabinet minister.

The prime minister will continue to consider carefully posts of lawmakers who supported Ishiba, the sources said. Jiji Press