About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (September 10, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govegad0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ____ ~ ~Research Service Political Transition in Tokyo Updated September 10, 2021 On September 3, 2021, Japan's Prime MinisterYoshihide Suga abruptly withdrew from seeking reelection as leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Suga's announcement thrust Japanese politics into uncertainty, with the range of outcomes holding potentially significant implications for the U.S.-Japan alliance. Suga's support ratings had fallen to 30% and below, mainly from widespread perceptions that his government was mishandling the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. For months, infection and hospitalization numbers have risen, prompting the government to redeclare a state of emergency in many regions, due in part to Japan 's slow progress on vaccinating its population. Hosting the Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo during the summer failed to give Suga a hoped-for boost in the polls. Upcoming Election Season Japan is facing a crowded political calendar to end the year, with LDP leadership elections in September 2021 and general elections for the Lower House of Japan's parliament (known as the Diet) due in October or November 2021. Whomever the LDP chooses as party president will lead the party in the general election campaign. Given the LDP and its coalition partner's control of the Diet, the next LDP leader is overwhelmingly favored to become the next Prime Minister. Since the spring of 2021, Suga's unpopularity appears to have convinced him and party leaders that he posed an electoral vulnerability, a perception that was reinforced by multiple LDP defeats in by-elections and local elections in the spring and summer of 2021, including in Suga's home city ofYokohama. Likely Candidates Several candidates have already declared their intention to compete in the leadership elections: Taro Kono (Minister of Administrative Reform and vaccine czar, as well as a former Defense Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister), Fumio Kishida (former holder of the powerful party policy chief position as well as former Foreign Affairs Minister), Sanae Takaichi (former Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, as well as several other Cabinet posts), and Seiko Noda (executive acting secretary general of the LDP and former Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications). Kono appears to lead in the polls, with Kishida, Takaichi, and Noda behind him. Kono, 58, is considered a political maverick, Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11691 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Membersand Committeesof Congress

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most