Kishida Launches Internal Diplomacy Push To Shore Up Ruling Party Stability

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with heavyweights from his Liberal Democratic Party and junior coalition partner Komeito over the past few days in a bid to secure unity of the ruling bloc, several local media outlets reported this morning.

• Kishida and the acting chairman of his faction Takumi Nemoto met with veteran lawmaker and former LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai and his close aide Mootoo Hayashi yesterday evening, Yomiuri and Jiji reported.
• Sources close to the Prime Minister told Yomiuri that "for the sake of the stability of the government, we must avoid confrontation with Nikai," who was once known as the LDP's "shadow shogun" before Kishida removed him from the influential post of LDP Secretary General upon becoming party leader.
• Yomiuri reported that last Thursday Kishida met with Upper House Budget Committe Chairman Shinsuke Suematsu and apologised him for the controversial delay in sacking Minister Yamagiwa. According to Jiji, the day after Kishida dined with Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi, while Yomiuri flagged a meeting with LDP Deputy President Aso on Saturday.
• Signals pointing to more frequent informal dinner meetings among senior officials suggest that Kishida is trying to actively probe and stabilise the situation within the ruling party. Similar reports did the rounds during politically sensitive periods, e.g. ahead of the last Upper House election.
• The ruling party is struggling to recover from the reputational damage inflicted by the Unification Church scandal, with a plunge in approval ratings fuelling internal tensions. The importance of ruling party cohesion is accentuated by key fiscal events ahead, including parliamentary debates on the jumbo-sized extra budget and FY2023 state budget.