TOKYO: New Liberal Democratic Party President Shigeru Ishiba on Friday hinted at dissolving the House of Representatives for a snap election after holding a parliamentary debate.

“We must receive the (public) judgment as soon as possible after engaging in discussions with opposition parties,” Ishiba told a news conference after winning the day’s LDP presidential election, referring to the timing of the dissolution of the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament.

Ishiba is expected to be confirmed as prime minister at an extraordinary Diet session to be convened Tuesday.

On his eight rivals in the LDP race, Ishiba said, “It’s natural to ask them to take the most suitable posts.”

About a high-profile slush funds scandal that involved LDP factions, he stressed that the LDP must be a “party that keeps rules.”

The LDP’s Election Strategy Headquarters will “make an appropriate decision” on whether to endorse member lawmakers who had failed to record income in political funds reports as candidates for the next Lower House election, he said.

Ishiba also pledged to fulfill his own accountability on whether such lawmakers should be endorsed as candidates.

“We need to create a system allowing the public to examine whether we follow the rules,” Ishiba said, showing eagerness to improve the transparency of political funds.

Addressing the damage caused by heavy rain in the Noto Peninsula, central Japan, last weekend, Ishiba indicated that reserve funds from the fiscal 2024 budget will primarily be used to deal with the situation.

Regarding whether a supplementary budget should be formulated, Ishiba said his party and its coalition partner, Komeito, will discuss the issue.

He also emphasized that he will maintain current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s economic policies.

“We must make sure that the deflation is brought to a complete end. We’ll accelerate the ‘new capitalism’ project to achieve wage growth that exceeds inflation,” he said, touching on Kishida’s key economic policy.

Regarding the Japan-U.S. status of forces agreement, he said, “We should not neglect the voices of Okinawa Prefecture residents calling for a revision.”

“It would be highly effective to build a training base for the Self-Defense Forces in the United States,” he added. The southernmost prefecture hosts a number of U.S. military bases.

On his proposal during the LDP election campaign to establish a ministry for disaster prevention, Ishiba commented, “I don’t think it can be done easily.” He suggested that for the time being he would focus on expanding the personnel and budget of the Cabinet Office’s disaster prevention-related organizations.

Ishiba also expressed eagerness to scrap the system of merged prefectural constituencies for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, “as soon as possible.”

JIJI Press