Fumio Kishida vows to formulate stimulus plan, let ordinary people benefit from growth

Fumio Kishida vows to formulate stimulus plan, let ordinary people benefit from growth

Fumio Kishida won the pre-sidential election of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Wednesday, vowing to formulate a stimulus plan and let people benefit from economic growth.

Kishida, former foreign mini-ster, secured 257 votes in a runoff to win over his conten-der vaccination minister Taro Kono who received 170 votes. He will succeed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

At a meeting of the LDP lawmakers after the election, Kishida called for unity as he will lead the party into a general election scheduled for November and election of the upper House of Councillors next year.

The next general election of the powerful House of Repre-sentatives is expected to take place after the term of mem-bers of the current lower house expires on October 21.

He said his government must formulate a multi-trillion-yen stimulus plan before the end of the year to mitigate the eco-nomic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He has also pledged to change the neoliberal policies of pre-vious administrations to ensure that ordinary people can enjoy the benefits of growth.

At the presidential election in the afternoon, LDP parlia-mentarians cast 382 votes and another 382 votes were allotted to rank-and-file members in the first round of voting. Kishida, winning 256 votes, entered the runoff vote round with Kono trailing at 255 votes.

Factional alliances did not play a decisive role in the first round as the members were allowed to make independent choices.

Two female candidates, Sanae Takaichi, former communicat-ions minister, and Seiko Noda, LDP executive acting secretary general, lost out in the four-way race in the first round of voting with 188 and 63 votes respectively.

Working as Suga’s successor, the new prime minister will face tasks of leading the ruling party, which is working hard to support the COVID-19-battered economy, while also persuading the public that the LDP has leadership skills and a sense of responsibility that Suga is regarded as lacking.

Xinhua