PM Suga Not Looking To Dissolve Diet Before LDP Leadership Vote-Kyodo

Wires and social media quoting Japan's Kyodo News reporting that Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will not seek to dissolve the House of Representatives - the lower house of the bicameral National Diet - before the September conference of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

• Suga's term as head of the LDP expires at the conference - taking place in late September - and party grandees will decide on whether the incumbent retains the leadership and goes into the legislative elections as the party's PM candidate, or whether he is replaced.
• Kyodo also reporting that eight more prefectures will be placed under state of emergency measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Hokkaido, Miyagi, Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Shiga, Okayama and Hiroshima), in addition to the 12 already under the measures as well as the capital, Tokyo.
• Uncertainty persists over whether Suga will be reappointed as LDP head, with his approval ratings plummeting as COVID-19 cases rise. However, the potential saving grace for Suga is that there is not seen to be a clear challenger to the PM among the senior LDP ranks.