Team News Riveting
The resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had come as a shock for the entire world. The longest serving prime minister of Japan had cited health reason behind the move. But is it the only reason for his exit?
Observers say the Abe-run government has been deadlocked for some time both politically and in terms of policy-making due to arrogance and complacency following his long stay in power. The administration was clearly losing public support.
His departure should start the process of curing this nation’s democracy, which has been deeply damaged during his lengthy tenure.
A scandal over the dubious sale of state-owned land to Moritomo Gakuen, an Osaka-based school operator linked to Abe’s wife, Akie, came under the scanner in the aftermath of the suicide of a former Finance Ministry official who became embroiled in the scandal. His widow published notes left by her late husband concerning how he was effectively forced to rewrite official documents related to the land sale.
A massive vote-buying scandal involving Lower House lawmaker Katsuyuki Kawai, a former justice minister, and his wife, Anri, a rookie member of the Upper House, also damaged the reputation of the Abe administration, which was held partly responsible for their alleged irregularities because it provided unusually strong support to Anri’s possibly unlawful election campaign.
Though Abe had built a good friendship with American President Donald Trump, his signature diplomatic initiatives have fallen through. His negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to resolve the long-running Northern Territories dispute over a chain of islands off Hokkaido have reached an impasse.
Abe’s efforts to strike an agreement with North Korea over Pyongyang’s past abductions of Japanese citizens produced no progress.
A survey conducted by leading Japanese daily last month said that only 24 percent of the respondents agreed with the view that Abe was exercising effective leadership in preventing the spread of the virus, against 66 percent who said he was failing. The Abe Cabinet’s approval rating remained low at 33 percent.
The poll numbers indicated that the administration, which had been drawing political power from strong public support, had totally lost its momentum.
