No plan to dissolve Japan’s lower house next year: PM Kishida

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that, “for now,” he is not planning to dissolve the House of Representatives for a snap election next year, with approval ratings for his Cabinet struggling over several controversies, including one involving a scandal-hit religious group.

Kishida said that the lower house election is “possible” before the government carries out planned tax hikes to cover the envisioned expansion of Japan’s defense spending in 2024 or later.

Speculation has mounted that Kishida will make further changes to ministerial posts to garner public support, but he denied the possibility of reshuffling his Cabinet before the regular parliamentary session starts in late January, saying, “That is not in my mind.”

Facing growingly severe security challenges, Kishida has pledged to boost Japan’s defense spending to around 43 trillion yen in total over the next five years starting in 2023, bringing the annual spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product.

In a bid to achieve the defense expenditure goal, which is on par with NATO members, Kishida said earlier this month that his administration has been eager to hike taxes instead of issuing new government bonds.

In December, the ruling bloc also approved a blueprint to raise corporate, income and tobacco taxes to fund the higher defense spending, but it postponed deciding when to conduct the measures amid a public backlash to Kishida’s tax hike proposal.

The government has said the tax increases would take place “at an appropriate time in 2024 or later,” and it will decide on the timing next year.

Koichi Hagiuda, the policy chief of Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has backed such a plan to hold a general election before implementing the tax hikes.

The premier has the final say on the dissolution of Japan’s House of Representatives under the Constitution. The current four-year terms for lower house members would expire in October 2025 unless Kishida were to dissolve the chamber.

Kishida’s remarks came a day after he effectively dismissed Kenya Akiba, who served as reconstruction minister, over political funds and other scandals, in a blow to his Cabinet that has now seen four of its members lose their posts in two months.

The support rate for Kishida’s Cabinet has already plunged to the lowest level since its launch in October last year, due partly to revelations of dubious ties between LDP lawmakers and the contentious religious group the Unification Church.

With the Unification Church’s questionable fundraising practices coming under scrutiny, the government has been investigating the group, with a view to requesting a court issue an order stripping it of its status as a religious corporation with tax benefits.

Kishida declined to indicate a timeframe for a decision on requesting such an order but said the government is tackling the issue “with a sense of speed.”

Despite his sagging support ratings, Kishida is set to be tested in a string of local elections in April, as no national election is scheduled in 2023.

The prime minister said economic policies and responses to the coronavirus pandemic are expected to be focal points in the elections.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES