Abe poised to get fresh mandate

Bloomberg

More than 100 million voters head to the polls on Sunday in an election that may clear the way for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to become Japan’s longest-serving leader.
Polls project that Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner Komeito will maintain control of
parliament while two opposition groups vie for second place. It’s unclear if Abe’s coalition will retain its two-thirds majority, which would make
it easier for them to pass changes to the constitution.
A victory for Abe would bring continuity to economic policies, including the massive monetary easing that has weakened the yen and bolstered exports in Asia’s second-biggest economy. He’s campaigned on his economic record, which includes six straight quarters of growth and low unemployment even as he’s struggled to defeat deflation and boost pay.
Abe has cultivated close ties with
President Donald Trump this year in a bid to keep the US alliance strong amid growing unease over North Korea’s ballistic missiles. He’s seeking the first-ever change to the 70-year-old pacifist constitution to affirm the legality of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.
Abe called the election more than a year early in apparent bid to capitalize on fears over North Korea and a weakened opposition.
The Constitutional Democratic Party, running second in most polls, was set up only about two weeks ago by former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano after its predecessor split up. Other opposition lawmakers defected to populist Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s upstart Party of Hope.
The CDP has adopted a center-left agenda, with pledges to increase the minimum wage and resist attempts to revise the constitution.
Koike’s Hope party is closer to Abe’s LDP on many issues, though has criticized him over cronyism scandals that hurt his popularity earlier this year. “It will be a victory by default for Prime Minister Abe,” said Tobias Harris, a Japan analyst at Teneo Intelligence in Washington.