Shigeru Ishiba, the newly elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party, has announced his intention to dissolve the House of Representatives for a snap election during an extraordinary Diet session on Tuesday. The election is scheduled to be held on October 27th, with official campaigning starting on October 15th. The LDP has also made personnel appointments and launched its new executive. The leaders of the LDP and Komeito have signed an agreement on the coalition government.
Ishiba stated that it is important to have a public verdict on the new administration as soon as possible. He explained that he announced the dissolution before being appointed prime minister out of consideration for preparations that needed to be made by election administration commissions and other entities across the nation.
Ishiba expressed his intention to hold debates with leaders from other political parties in the Diet. He plans to make a policy speech and conduct subsequent question-and-answer sessions appropriately, in order to provide what will help people make their decision.
After being appointed prime minister during Tuesday’s extraordinary Diet session, Ishiba will launch a new cabinet on the same day. He is expected to deliver a policy speech on Friday, hold question-and-answer sessions with other party leaders from October 7th-8th, and dissolve the lower house on October 9th.
Following this dissolution, Ishiba is scheduled to attend a summit and related meetings of ASEAN in Laos from October 10th-11th.
The LDP’s new executive appointments were approved at an extraordinary meeting of the General Council. Hiroshi Moriyama was appointed as secretary general, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki was named chairperson of General Council, former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera was appointed chairperson of Policy Research Council, Shinjiro Koizumi took post as chairperson of Election Strategy Committee, and former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga became party vice president.
LDP Vice President Taro Aso was given the post of top adviser while Agriculture Minister Tetsushi Sakamoto was appointed chairperson of Diet Affairs Committee and Yuko Obuchi became head of Party Organization and Campaign Headquarters.
The LDP is now preparing for elections after announcing lower house dissolution. Prefectural chapters nationwide have been notified by headquarters that they should file applications for prospective candidates by October 7th.
