Ishiba Elected Japan's New Prime Minister
Tokyo, Oct. 1 (Jiji Press)--Japan's parliament elected Shigeru Ishiba, new president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as prime minister Tuesday to succeed Fumio Kishida.
Ishiba, 67, told an inaugural press conference that he plans to dissolve the House of Representatives, the all-important lower parliamentary chamber, on Oct. 9 for a general election on Oct. 27.
The election is designed to "ask the people whether they can trust this cabinet or whether they have other choices," he said.
"We will conduct humble, sincere and warm politics," he said.
"Our economic and fiscal policy management will give top priority to overcoming deflation," Ishiba said. "We will uphold the Kishida administration's economic policies," he said.
He added that his government will compile an economic package at an early date that will include benefits to low-income earners and other emergency measures to fight deflation.
Ishiba will deliver a policy speech at both parliamentary chambers on Friday.
The ruling coalition plans to hold question-and-answer sessions over his speech among political party representatives for two days from Monday and a debate among party leaders on Oct. 9. Opposition parties have rejected the plan.
The new prime minister chose former Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, 68, as finance minister and former administrative reform minister Seiichiro Murakami, 72, as internal affairs minister.
Former Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya, 67, was named foreign minister. Former Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, 66, assumed the top defense post again.
Tetsuo Saito, 72, retained his post as minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism. He is the sole cabinet minister from Komeito, the LDP's coalition partner.
In the Ishiba cabinet, 13 people got a ministerial post for the first time, including education minister Toshiko Abe, 65, and Junko Mihara, 60, minister for policies related to children.
Ishiba established a new ministerial position in charge of wage increases, keeping Kishida's priority policy in place. Ryosei Akazawa, 63, new economic revitalization minister, was also appointed to concurrently take charge of wage increases. Akazawa also serves as minister in charge of preparing to establish an agency for disaster prevention, which Ishiba proposed in his LDP presidential campaign.
Yoshitaka Ito, 75, new regional revitalization minister, doubles as newly established minister in charge of addressing population declines.
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