"Sense Of Crisis" Within LDP Limits Kishida's Room For Manoeuvre Re: Potential Snap Election

Asahi reports that "a sense of crisis is spreading within the Liberal Democratic Party" as the Kishida Cabinet's approval ratings remain at the lowest levels since its inauguration, which supports those voices in the ruling party claiming that "it's impossible to dissolve [the legislature] in the autumn."

• The government continues to try and fend off criticism over its handling of issues spanning from the botched attempts to promote the use of "My Number" ID cards, to the imminent release of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site, to inflation, to some local scandals within party ranks.
• Speculation has been rife for some time that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida could call a snap election this autumn to regain the initiative and preempt challenge from the conservative Nippon Ishin no Kai. The party's rise changes Japan's political landscape by raising the prospect of the LDP facing serious threat from a conservative party.
• Japanese political scientist Masato Kamikubo told the Japan Times that "the traditional right-left opposition political structure in Japanese politics has already disappeared. The new competition will be between reform parties (like Nippon Ishin) and catch-all parties like the LDP."
• However, the plan to call a snap election (an oft-used strategy of Japanese PMs) could be stopped in its tracks should the Cabinet's approval ratings remain rock-bottom. In the coming months, Kishida will need to weigh the risks associated with a snap election against risks stemming from allowing Nippon Ishin to consolidate and expand its presence on Japan's political scene.