Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a ruling party leadership vote on Thursday, putting him on track to become Japan's longest-serving premier and to try to cement his legacy, including by revision of the country's pacifist, post-war constitution.
If Abe, who quit abruptly after a troubled 2006-07 term, stays in office through November 2019, he will have exceeded the 2,886 days marked by Taro Katsura in the early 20th century. "I want to tackle constitutional reform together with all of you," Abe told his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) after the vote. Abe, who surged back to power in 2012 promising to reboot the economy and strengthen national defence, defeated former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba in the LDP leadership election.
Abe won 553 votes to Ishiba's 254, a somewhat stronger showing than expected. Of the 810 votes up for grabs from LDP parliamentarians and rank-and-file members, 807 were valid. Abe told a news conference he would reshuffle his cabinet after coming back from a trip to New York for a United Nations General Assembly gathering next week. He declined to comment on specific posts, but the Nikkei business daily said his close allies, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and Finance Minister Taro Aso, would stay.
Abe also said he would compile an extra budget for relief from the natural disasters - floods and earthquakes - that have battered Japan in recent months. Abe's first immediate challenge, however, is an expected summit next week with U.S. President Donald Trump, when he will face pressure to narrow Japan's $69 billion trade surplus with its key ally, nearly two-thirds from auto exports.
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