Japan PM Kishida’s govt struggling as public approval plummets

Despite the launch of drastic comprehensive economic measures in late October, an array of other problems — including issues involving the Unification Church — means that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration is likely to remain in a state of crisis.

Discouraging sign

“We will respond firmly to crucial domestic and international issues, such as high prices and problems involving North Korea, to restore public trust,” Liberal Democratic Party secretary general Toshimitsu Motegi said on Sunday, reacting to the continued decline of the Cabinet’s approval rating.

The resignation of economic revitalisation minister Daishiro Yamagiwa over his links with the Unification Church had been seen as a brake on falling approval for the government and ruling parties — as was the announcement of the major economic measures intended to ease household utility bill burdens.

Hence the shock from the results of Yomiuri Shimbun’s latest opinion poll.

“I thought the approval rating would improve, but I’m surprised it has dropped this much,” one Cabinet minister said.

LDP General Council chairman Toshiaki Endo said: “The public has not yet been made aware of the content of the economic measures. The problems involving the Unification Church are also lingering, and the public seems to have a sense of uneasiness toward an uncertain future.”

Some in the LDP believe Yamagiwa’s resignation should have come sooner. Furthermore, his resignation as a minister was followed by his appointment to head the party’s Covid-19 task force. Another former minister called this “a complete failure to read the harsh atmosphere of public opinion, further fuelling dissatisfaction and frustration with the government”.

Breakthrough sought

Kishida believes tackling issues involving the Unification Church (officially called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) is crucial to resurrecting public support for his administration.

The government plans to launch an investigation quickly and seek a court order to dissolve the group if serious violations of laws and regulations are confirmed.

The government and ruling parties are also making all-out efforts to enact a new law to prevent the damage caused when people are pressed to make large donations. However, talks with opposition parties have run into difficulties, and efforts to enact a law before the current parliamentary session ends on December 10 have become a “race against time”.

A senior LDP official warned, “It will be a further blow if we fail to produce any result.”

Deliberations will begin later this month on the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2022, which will provide funding for the economic measures. Opposition parties will continue to pursue the Unification Church issue while also demanding the resignation of Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Minoru Terada over a political funds issue.

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan president Kenta Izumi said, “At the Budget Committee meeting, we will sternly criticize the economic measures that have only inflated the amount of spending and suspicions involving Terada.”

Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki said, “The government has dragged its feet regarding Yamagiwa’s resignation and the economic measures, and it is causing a decline in its own approval rating.”

Kishida will attend three summits later this month, including an Asean summit meeting. Toward the end of the year, the government will revise three documents, including the National Security Strategy.

“Approval ratings will remain low for the time being, but we have no choice but to steadily tackle each issue one by one and turn the situation around,” a source close to the prime minister said.

The Japan News

Asia News Network