Support is shaky as Japan PM calls for snap election on 'Abenomics'
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved parliament’s lower house on Friday ahead of a snap election on December 14.
Two years after returning to power, Abe promised that “Japan is back” and now seeks a fresh mandate for his struggling “Abenomics” strategy to revive the struggling economy.
His strategy involves hyper-easy monetary policy as well as government spending and reforms, all whilst reigning in Japan’s huge public debt. However, data this week showed the economy slipping into recession in the third quarter, following April’s sales tax rise of 8%.
Abe, in response to doubts about his strategy, told a news conference: "This is an 'Abenomics' snap election. Will 'Abenomics' go forward, or stop in its tracks? That is the question in this election, Are our economic policies a mistake, or are they correct? Is there really any other way? This is what we want to ask all the people."
Abe has delayed a second consumption tax hike to 10%, that had initially been planned for October 2015, to April 2017. Advocates say the increase would fund the fast-ageing population’s much needed social security costs and will definitely go ahead despite the 18-month delay.
Concerned about his slipping support ratings, Abe plans to tackle unpopular policies next year, such as restarting reactors that went offline after Fukushima’s nuclear crisis in 2011. Abe said that if his collation failed to win a majority in the next election, he would resign, although experts dismissed such an outcome as almost impossible.