TOKYO: Pledges to spend on education and child care, stay tough on North Korea and revise the pacifist constitution are likely to be pillars of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s campaign in a snap election next month, government sources said on Tuesday.
Abe is considering calling the lower house poll when the legislature convenes on Sept. 28 to take advantage of his improved ratings and disarray in the opposition, ruling party and government sources have said.
The prime minister, whose ratings have recovered from below 30 percent in July, is betting his ruling bloc can at a minimum retain a simple majority in the chamber and at best keep the two-thirds super-majority needed to achieve his long-held goal of revising the constitution to clarify the military’s role.
Abe wants to go ahead with a planned rise in the nation’s sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent and use some of the revenue to create a “social security system for all generations,” which would invest in education while decreasing the proportion of sales tax revenue used to pay down government debt, the sources said.
Japan’s social welfare system is weighted toward spending on the elderly, with people aged 65 and over accounting for a whopping 27.7 percent of the population according to the latest government data.
“You can promise anything you want — make a nod toward a more equitable society, empowering women, work-life balance, welfare for all generations,” said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University Japan.
“He’s got a strategy that is going to win.”
Using less tax revenue to pay down debt, however, would make it more difficult to achieve the government’s target of returning to a primary budget surplus in fiscal 2020, which could in turn raise concerns about less rigid fiscal discipline.
“We have to maintain fiscal discipline, regardless,” Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters when asked about the reports.
Abe has told reporters he will make a decision on the snap election after he returns from the United States on Sept. 22.
Japan’s opposition Democratic Party is struggling with single-digit support and a succession of defections. And while the nascent “Japan First” party, which boasts ties to popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, could be a viable challenger to Abe’s government, it has yet to draft a platform, pick candidates or formally register as a party.
That means Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner, the Komeito, have a shot at retaining their two-thirds majority in the lower house, political analysts said.
However, some analysts believe Abe’s electoral base could be undermined by voter distaste over suspected cronyism scandals and concerns about a political vacuum forming amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
“I don’t dismiss the possibility of the voters giving Abe a nasty surprise,” said Gerry Curtis, professor emeritus at Columbia University in New York.
Japan’s Abe to pledge something for all generations in snap election-source
Japan’s Abe to pledge something for all generations in snap election-source
Pakistan says 34 militants killed in counterterror operations in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this week
- Security forces carried out a series of ‘high tempo intelligence-driven operations’ this week in the two provinces
- The counterterror operations take place amid surging tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces killed 34 militants this week in the southwestern Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces bordering Afghanistan, the military’s media wing said on Wednesday amid a surge in militant attacks in the country.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said security forces carried out a series of “high tempo intelligence-driven operations” this week in the two provinces. It said 26 militants belonging to the Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outfit were killed while eight militants were killed in Balochistan in the operations.
In the first counterterror operation on Tuesday, Pakistani forces targeted a TTP militant who was trying to enter the country in North Waziristan through the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the ISPR said. Three TTP militants were killed in a second counterterror operation in Lakki Marwat district, the military added.
In the third counterterror operation, 10 TTP militants were killed in Bannu district while 12 others were gunned down in North Waziristan in another separate operation, the ISPR said.
“During the fifth engagement, own troops conducted an intelligence-based operation in the general area of Sambaza, Zhob District,” the military’s media wing said in a statement.
“After an intense fire exchange, eight terrorists belonging to Fitna Al Hindustan were successfully neutralized.”
Pakistan’s military uses the terms “Fitna Al-Khwarij” for the TTP and “Fitna Al Hindustan” for separatist militants in Balochistan. Islamabad alleges these militant groups are supported by India, a charge New Delhi has always denied.
The ISPR said security forces retrieved weapons and ammunition from the militants in Balochistan’s Zhob district, adding that they were involved in “terrorist activities” in the area.
“The security forces of Pakistan remain resolute and unwavering in their commitment to defend the nation’s frontiers,” the ISPR said.
Four police personnel killed
Separately, four police personnel were killed in KP’s district Bajaur on Wednesday after they were ambushed by unidentified gunmen.
The police personnel were on patrol duty when the gunmen opened fire on them, a statement from the chief minister’s office said.
“Such cowardly acts of terrorism cannot shake the resolve and morale of the police force,” Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was quoted as saying.
The counterterror operations take place amid surging tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Islamabad said it carried out strikes on alleged militant camps in Afghanistan on Saturday night, killing over 100 militants.
Afghanistan said the attacks violated its territorial sovereignty, accusing Islamabad of killing and wounding dozens of civilians.
Islamabad alleges militants based in Afghanistan are responsible for surging militant attacks inside Pakistani territory. Afghanistan rejects these allegations and urges Pakistan to focus on its security challenges instead of blaming Kabul.
