By Rupakjyoti Borah
With his reelection as LDP president, Shinzo Abe appears to be immovable.
The recent reelection of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan means that he will continue as the head of that party through September 30, 2018. Abe’s reelection is significant in more ways than one. No other leader of the LDP has been elected unopposed since 1997.
So what does Abe’s reelection mean for Japanese domestic politics and for the country’s foreign policy?
First, it means that in spite of the disaffection among many sections of the Japanese populace over Abe’s insistence on passing controversial security legislation, his popularity remains strong. When finally passed into law (by the end of the current session of the Diet on September 27), these bills stand to allow Japanese troops to fight on foreign shores for the first time since the Second World War.
Second, it means that there is no one within the LDP who can challenge Abe. The only other “potential” rival candidate, Seiko Noda, had to drop out of the race as she could not gather the support of the requisite number (20) of LDP Diet members.
Third, it means that Abe now has a renewed mandate to carry on his so-called programme of economic revival, more popularly known as “Abenomics,” which brought him to power in the first place.
Fourth, it means that this victory will allow Abe to carry on with his bold steps in the field of nuclear energy, as exemplified by the restarting of reactor number one at Sendai, run by Kyushu Electric Power, earlier in August this year.
Read the full story at The Diplomat