TOKYO, Sept 30 – Japan’s new ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba, who is certain to become the next prime minister, intends to call a general election for Oct. 27, Kyodo News reported quoting senior party officials said Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Ishiba, a former defense minister, decided to dissolve the House of Representatives in October to seek a public mandate after engaging in parliamentary debates with opposition parties, sources close to him said.
Ishiba, meanwhile, has accelerated the selection of new executives of the ruling party and members of his prospective government, considering appointing former Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya as foreign minister, the sources said.
Some lawmakers said Ishiba aims to stabilize his party’s weak internal base by tapping heavyweights for key posts, such as former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Suga is believed to have backed Ishiba in the runoff against economic security minister Sanae Takaichi.
But Takaichi has declined Ishiba’s offer to become LDP general council chief, the sources said, underscoring the difficulties the new leader faces in achieving postrace party unity before the potential lower house election in the not-so-distant future.
Iwaya served as defense minister in the government of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had hawkish views. He supported Ishiba in Friday’s election to become the LDP’s president and, by extension, the next prime minister.
Ishiba has also opted to reinstate Gen Nakatani as defense minister, the sources said. Nakatani was defense minister for about two years until 2016. He had worked as head of the Defense Agency, the predecessor of the ministry, for more than a year from 2001.
The new leader had initially planned to give the post of state minister in charge of promoting reconstruction in disaster-hit areas to Nobuhide Minorikawa, who has served as the LDP’s acting chair of the Diet affairs committee, but withdrew the offer.
