Lower House dissolved for general election

September 28, 2017

TOKYO- Japan's House of Representatives was dissolved Thursday for a general election in which voters will decide whether to allow Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to stay on after nearly five years since his return to power.

At a cabinet meeting, the government decided that the election of the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament, will be held on Oct. 22, with the official campaign period starting on Oct. 10.

Opposition parties' ongoing efforts to combine their forces are expected to affect the election results. Seiji Maehara, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, announced a plan to have his party effectively merge with Kibo no To (Party of Hope), a national party launched by popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.

Lower House Speaker Tadamori Oshima read out an Imperial rescript for the dissolution, decided by the cabinet earlier in the day, at a plenary Lower House meeting at the outset of an extraordinary Diet session.

In the opposition camp, the DP, the Japanese Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party boycotted the meeting. This marked the first absence of any parliamentary group from a session to dissolve the lower chamber, according to the existing record that starts in 1955.

The upcoming poll will be the first Lower House general election since December 2014.

During the campaign, Abe will bring into the spotlight his new initiative to create a social security system for all generations by realizing free education and other reform measures.

Abe has said he will seek a fresh public mandate in order to change the planned use of the expected additional revenue arising from the October 2019 consumption tax hike so that the reform measures can be taken.

The prime minister will also highlight the significance of his policy of increasing pressure on North Korea in response to the growing threats from the reclusive state's nuclear and missile development.

Meanwhile, the opposition camp criticizes Abe for the Lower House dissolution, saying his move is aimed at avoiding parliamentary discussions on favoritism scandals involving Moritomo Gakuen and Kake Educational Institution.

In election promises, Kibo no To, dubbed a "tolerant reform-minded conservative" party by Koike, will call for delaying the consumption tax increase and ending the country's reliance on nuclear energy. Jiji Press