... on Koizumi's successor?
As most of you will know, the Upper House voted the Japan Post bill down. I haven't been paying enough attention to the issue, but after the bill recently passed the Lower House I was expecting it to pass now as well. As Koizumi has always said he is determined to get the bill through no matter what, he has dissolved the Lower House and has called for new elections in September. I was expecting Koizumi to stay on until the proper elections in 2007 (I think..?) which would have made his term-in-office as PM one of the longest in Japan - if not the longest by then.
In any case, at the moment I don't see it happening anymore. I don't think he is popular enough anymore to gain a majority in the upcoming elections and remain in office as PM. So, who will be next?
I used to think Abe Shinzo stood a pretty good chance, but he was mostly in focus when the North Korean abductions issue was hot news. That has slowly worn off, although he's still quite influential I think. If he can get enough supporters I wouldn't be surprised if he would get quite far.
Kamei also seems to be a strong opposer of Koizumi. I've also heard mention of Aso Taro as someone who could have a shot. Not too sure about that, although the guy himself is hilarious to listen to!
But, before attempting a more serious analysis I'll have to read up on this slighlty more. Will be keeping up with the news from Tokyo though...
[I seem to miss all the exciting stuff in Japanese politics. Everytime something fun happens I'm out of the country!]
No comments:
Post a Comment