Japanese media: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will undergo a cabinet reshuffle on September 13th
Japanese media reported on the 8th that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to reshuffle the cabinet and adjust senior personnel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as early as next week. Analysts point out that against the backdrop of continuous decline in cabinet support, this reshuffle may be Kishida's "last opportunity" to boost popularity before next year's Liberal Democratic Party presidential election.
Japanese media outlets such as Yomiuri Shimbun reported on the 8th, citing political sources, that Kishida is expected to return to Japan from his trip on the 11th and convene a personnel related meeting with senior members of the Liberal Democratic Party on the same day; He will announce the senior personnel adjustment plan of the Liberal Democratic Party as early as the morning of the 13th, and reorganize the cabinet in the afternoon.
According to sources, Kishida is preparing to "boldly change the lineup of his cabinet.". Japanese media predict that Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyoshi Matsuno and Liberal Democratic Party political adjustment chairman Mitsuichi Hagimoto may hold important positions in the new cabinet, while Land and Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito, from the ruling ally of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Komeito Party, is expected to remain in office.
In terms of senior personnel of the Liberal Democratic Party, Secretary General Toshio Mao and Vice President Taro Aso are expected to remain in office. According to Japanese media, in order to maintain political stability, Kishida needs the support of the two major factions within the party, the Mori faction and the Aso faction.
Recently, the popularity of the Kishida Cabinet has been continuously declining. The poll results released by the Daily News at the end of August showed that the support rate for the Kishida Cabinet had dropped to 26%, and it has been in a "dangerous water zone" of below 30% for two consecutive months. In the past three months, the support rate of the Kishida cabinet has dropped by 19 percentage points.
Since last year, there have been numerous scandals in the Kishida Cabinet, with several cabinet members accused of violating political funding and campaign activities. Kishida himself has also been exposed to have nearly a hundred "blank invoices" in his political funding reports. In May of this year, his eldest son Shotaro Kishida was exposed by the media for holding a party at the Prime Minister's residence at the end of last year and taking inappropriate photos with relatives and others imitating the formation of a cabinet. He subsequently resigned from his position as Prime Minister's Secretary. On the 7th of this month, former high-ranking official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Makoto Akimoto, was arrested on suspicion of accepting huge bribes, which may once again lower the support rate of the cabinet.
