Former Japan PM Junichiro Koizumi says embattled leader Shinzo Abe may quit in June as support collapses
Japan’s ex-leader Junichiro Koizumi – a critic of Shinzo Abe’s support for nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima crisis – said that if Abe hangs on, it could hurt LDP candidates in an upper house election next summer
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s political crisis deepened on Monday after polls showed that suspected cronyism scandals have pushed his support to record lows and a popular predecessor said Abe would probably resign in June.
In another headache for the conservative premier, the finance ministry’s top bureaucrat has come under fire after a weekly magazine reported he had sexually harassed several female journalists.
The bureaucrat on Monday denied the accusations and said he would file a lawsuit against the magazine’s publisher.
Abe’s sliding ratings raise doubts about whether he can win a third three-year term as ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader in a September vote, that he needs to win to stay in office, or whether he might resign before the party vote.
Speculation has even emerged that Abe, who surged back to power for a second term as prime minister in December 2012, promising to reboot a stale economy and bolster Japan’s defences, could call a snap general election as he did last October when his ratings were in a similar slump.
