Sep 23 (Nikkei) - Facing less-than-stellar poll numbers, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is taking a huge gamble with plans to dissolve the lower house for a snap election in October.
It was no easy decision. He had many moments of self-doubt and equivocation. Ultimately, an internal survey suggesting decent results for the ruling coalition and reassurances from a trusted ally prompted him to make the call.
"Let's have a chat," Abe told Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso, inviting him to his private residence Sept. 10. They spent some time discussing politics before Aso brought up Abe's grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, in connection with the subject of a snap election.
Kishi signed the Japan-U.S. security pact in 1960 with plans to dissolve the lower house shortly thereafter, only to be talked out of it by the ruling party's secretary-general, Shojiro Kawashima. He eventually stepped down amid fierce public protests over the treaty. Kishi later expressed regret for not holding the snap election as planned despite knowing that his party would have won.
"You should trust your gut," Aso told Abe.
Multiple opportunities for a snap election had arisen since the last vote nearly three years ago. But Abe's right-hand man, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, was always hesitant, cautioning Abe that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party would only lose seats. The ruling coalition needs a two-thirds majority in both houses to begin the process of revising the constitution -- a goal of Abe's.
