Soft-spoken consensus builder Kishida to become Japan's next PM after party vote (updated)
29/09/2021 08:49
(Updates when Kishida may become PM, election date specualtion,
analyst comments)
* New LDP leader Kishida likely to be voted PM on Oct. 4
* General election expected Nov. 7 or Nov. 14
* Kishida is party consensus builder, but lacks popularity
* Has called for stimulus of more than 30 trillion yen
* Seen maintaining Japan's security and foreign policy
posture
By Antoni Slodkowski, Ju-min Park and Kiyoshi Takenaka
TOKYO, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Former foreign minister Fumio
Kishida won a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership
race on Wednesday, a victory that virtually ensures he will
become Japan's next prime minister within days.
In an acceptance speech, Kishida vowed to lead a transformed
party in a general election due within weeks and continue to
fight the COVID-19 pandemic which has battered Japan's economy.
However, Kishida enjoys only moderate public support and has
a bland image and his victory could spell problems for the LDP
in the election due by Nov. 28.
"The LDP leadership election is over. Let us all face the
lower house and the upper house elections as one," Kishida said.
"Our national crisis continues. We need to keeping working
hard on the coronavirus response with strong determination, and
we need to compile tens of trillions of yen of stimulus package
by the end of the year," he said.
Kishida defeated former defence and foreign minister Taro
Kono, seen as an outspoken maverick, in a second round run-off
vote. Two female contenders, Sanae Takaichi, 60, and Seiko Noda,
61, dropped out after the first round.
Kishida, who succeeds unpopular Prime Minister Yoshihide
Suga who did not seek re-election as party leader after just one
year in office, is almost certain to become premier at a
parliamentary session on Oct. 4 because of the LDP's majority in
the lower house.
He is expected to form a new cabinet and reshuffle the LDP
executive in early October.
Local media reported, quoting LDP executives, that the lower
chamber will likely be dissolved in mid-October, with the
election either Nov. 7 or Nov. 14.
"A whole month of monopoly over TV and newspaper coverage in
the run-up to the election cannot be bad for the LDP but the
underwhelming result will dampen the celebratory mood quickly,
possibly," said Koichi Nakano, political science professor,
Sophia University.
"The opposition must be relieved that they don't have to
fight against the darling of television (Kono)."
ESTABLISHMENT WIN
Kishida's victory is unlikely to trigger a huge shift in
policies as Japan seeks to cope with an assertive China and
revive an economy hit by the pandemic, with the soft-spoken MP
highlighting the need to focus on reducing income
disparity. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2QT1CR
He shares a broad consensus on the need to boost Japan's
defences and strengthen security ties with the United States and
other partners including the QUAD grouping of Japan, the United
States, Australia and India, while preserving vital economic
ties with China and holding regular summit meetings.
Specifically, Kishida wants to beef up Japan's coast guard
and backs passing of a resolution condemning China's treatment
of members of the Uyghur minority. He wants to appoint a prime
ministerial aide to monitor their human rights situation.
"Taiwan is the biggest question for me," said Jeffrey
Hornung senior political scientist at RAND corporation.
Hornung said that the outgoing Suga administration had been
publicly active in having conversations on Taiwan. "It will be
interesting to see whether the new leader takes this approach,
such as advocating for Taiwan's inclusion in CPTPP."
Kishida has said fiscal consolidation would be a major
pillar of his policy and in the past has voiced doubts over the
Bank of Japan's ultra-loose policy, saying in 2018 that stimulus
cannot last forever.
But with the economy suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kishida recently reversed course to say the BOJ must maintain
its massive stimulus. He proposed a spending package of more
than 30 trillion yen, adding that Japan likely would not raise a
sales tax rate from 10% "for about a decade".
He has stressed the need to distribute more wealth to
households, in contrast to the focus of Abe's "Abenomics"
policies on boosting corporate profits in the hope benefits
trickle down to wage-earners.
"A win for the establishment. Kishida stands for stability,
for not rocking the boat and most importantly, doing what elite
technocrats tell him to do," Jesper Koll, expert director at
Monex Group.
($1 = 0.0090 yen)
(Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski, Leika Kihara, Kiyoshi
Takenaka, Linda Sieg, Chang-Ran Kim, Ju-min Park, Daniel
Leussink, Ritsuko Ando, Tetsushi Kajimoto and Elaine Lies;
Editing by Michael Perry and Kim Coghill)
((antoni.slodkowski@thomsonreuters.com; +81-80-3559-9968;
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antoni.slodowski.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))