Japan’s Abe to call election in October nipping a new challenge in the bud
Tokyo — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will call a general election for October 22, according to three people with knowledge of his ruling coalition’s plans, seeking to take advantage of a recovery in support and nip in the bud a challenge from a new opposition party. Heightened tensions with North Korea have helped restore voter approval damaged by a series of scandals, and may help Abe retain his coalition’s two-thirds majority in the lower house. His ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s campaign will focus on a pledge to increase education spending by putting off a target for reining in the budget deficit, as well as a more divisive plan to revise the pacifist constitution, according to domestic media reports. While the main parliamentary opposition Democratic Party is splintering, Abe faces a wild card challenge from a new national party being set up by an associate of Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike. The capital’s leader defected from the Liberal Democratic Party, then thrashed it...
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