TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Wednesday that he had no plans to dissolve the country’s lower house, in the latest turn of political drama as he fights to hold onto his job.
Domestic media reported this week that he intended to dissolve the lower house of parliament in mid-September and was considering holding the general election on Oct. 17.
Suga’s denial of these reports comes after several days of tense negotiations and sudden twists involving Suga and the most powerful politicians in the ruling camp as the unpopular prime minister maneuvers to stay in the top job.
“We can’t dissolve the lower house in this current situation,” said Suga, speaking of the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.
When asked whether that meant he would let members of the lower house of parliament serve their full terms, which end Oct. 21, Suga avoided a direct answer.
“There are no plans to push back the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election, and we will work around the dates available for the general election,” he said. The LDP leadership race is slated to be held on Sept. 29.
A senior LDP official told Reuters that Suga was weighing a party executive and cabinet reshuffle early next week. He added that the cabinet reshuffle would be small scale.
On Tuesday, media said Suga planned to remove long-term party ally and current LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai from his post as part of the reshuffle.
Nikai threw his backing behind Suga and helped him win the top post in the turmoil to succeed former premier Shinzo Abe last September. But some parliamentarians have voiced their unease with the amount of power wielded by 82-year-old Nikai, who has held his post since August 2016 — the longest in the party’s history.
Local media have also reported that Suga is seeking to dissolve the lower house in hopes of holding the LDP leadership race after the election, given that he has struggled to solidify support in the party and that other contenders like Fumio Kishida appear positioned to gather the votes of those opposing him.
Suga’s support ratings are at record lows, as he failed to capitalize on delivering the Olympics amid a fresh wave of coronavirus infections. The government has since declared a fourth state of emergency in most of Japan.
The LDP and its allies are not expected to lose their coalition majority in the powerful lower house in the next general election, but forecasts suggest that the party could lose its outright majority, an outcome that would weaken the LDP leader.
Despite the dour forecast for the LDP, the Nikkei average gained 0.89 percent to 28,337.71 on Wednesday, hitting its highest level since mid-July.
Historically, the market has performed well after the parliament is dissolved.
“While things seem very fluid, some people think that political uncertainty has diminished on the grounds that Suga is likely to win the upcoming ruling party leadership election,” said Naoya Oshikubo, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management.
Japanese PM Suga denies reports of dissolving parliament in mid-September
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Japanese PM Suga denies reports of dissolving parliament in mid-September
- Suga’s support ratings are at record lows
Culture being strangled by Kosovo’s political crisis
- Cultural institutions have been among the hardest-hit sectors, as international funding dried up and local decisions were stalled by the parliamentary crisis
PRIZREN: Kosovo’s oldest cinema has been dark and silent for years as the famous theater slowly disintegrates under a leaky roof.
Signs warn passers-by in the historic city of Prizren that parts of the Lumbardhi’s crumbling facade could fall while it waits for its long-promised refurbishment.
“The city deserves to have the cinema renovated and preserved. Only junkies gathering there benefit from it now,” nextdoor neighbor butcher Arsim Futko, 62, told AFP.
For seven years, it waited for a European Union-funded revamp, only for the money to be suddenly withdrawn with little explanation.
Now it awaits similar repairs promised by the national government that has since been paralyzed by inconclusive elections in February.
And it is anyone’s guess whether the new government that will come out of Sunday’s snap election will keep the promise.
- ‘Collateral damage’ -
Cinema director Ares Shporta said the cinema has become “collateral damage” in a broader geopolitical game after the EU hit his country with sanctions in 2023.
The delayed repairs “affected our morale, it affected our lives, it affected the trust of the community in us,” Shporta said.
Brussels slapped Kosovo with sanctions over heightened tensions between the government and the ethnic Serb minority that live in parts of the country as Pristina pushed to exert more control over areas still tightly linked to Belgrade.
Cultural institutions have been among the hardest-hit sectors, as international funding dried up and local decisions were stalled by the parliamentary crisis.
According to an analysis by the Kosovo think tank, the GAP Institute for Advanced Studies, sanctions have resulted in around 613 million euros ($719 million) being suspended or paused, with the cultural sector taking a hit of 15-million-euro hit.
- ‘Ground zero’ -
With political stalemate threatening to drag on into another year, there are warnings that further funding from abroad could also be in jeopardy.
Since February’s election when outgoing premier Albin Kurti topped the polls but failed to win a majority, his caretaker government has been deadlocked with opposition lawmakers.
Months of delays, spent mostly without a parliament, meant little legislative work could be done.
Ahead of the snap election on Sunday, the government said that more than 200 million euros ($235 million) will be lost forever due to a failure to ratify international agreements.
Once the top beneficiary of the EU Growth Plan in the Balkans, Europe’s youngest country now trails most of its neighbors, the NGO Group for Legal and Political Studies’ executive director Njomza Arifi told AFP.
“While some of the countries in the region have already received the second tranches, Kosovo still remains at ground zero.”
Although there have been some enthusiastic signs of easing a half of EU sanctions by January, Kurti’s continued push against Serbian institutions and influence in the country’s north continues to draw criticism from both Washington and Brussels.
- ‘On the edge’ -
Across the river from the Lumbardhi, the funding cuts have also been felt at Dokufest, a documentary and short film festival that draws people to the region.
“The festival has had to make staff cuts. Unfortunately, there is a risk of further cuts if things don’t change,” Dokufest artistic director Veton Nurkollari said.
“Fortunately, we don’t depend on just one source because we could end up in a situation where, when the tap is turned off, everything is turned off.”
He said that many in the cultural sector were desperate for the upcoming government to get the sanctions lifted by ratification of the agreements that would allow EU funds to flow again.
“Kosovo is the only one left on the edge and without these funds.”
