Politics
Wild card
Both Abe and the polls seem confident of his victory in Japan’s snap election but a new party could upset the applecart.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision on Monday to dissolve Japan’s lower house of parliament and call a snap election on 22 October is his biggest gamble in the five years he’s been in power. As his public support ratings rebound after a brief dip caused by recent scandals, Abe is hoping his Liberal Democratic party-led ruling bloc defends its majority – there are 465 seats up for grabs. Or, rather, it has to if Abe is to push through the tax hike and controversial revision to the constitution that he’s planning. Recent media polls predict the bloc will only lose a few of the 326 seats it currently holds. But a wild card has entered: Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike’s new conservative Party of Hope. Given her allies’ strong showing – and the LDP’s big loss – in July’s Tokyo assembly elections, Koike could hold the key to Abe’s future.