Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) looks on as lawmakers raise their hands shouting "banzai!" (Hurrah!) after the dissolution of the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo Cheap Leicester City Hats , Japan, on Thursday. Photo: IC
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved parliament Thursday, effectively kicking off a national election campaign where he faces an unexpected and formidable challenge from the popular governor of Tokyo.
Members of the lower house raised their arms and shouted "Banzai" three times - the Japanese equivalent of "three cheers" - after the speaker read out a letter officially dissolving the chamber.
Voters in the world's third-biggest economy will go to the polls on October 22, as Abe seeks a fresh popular mandate for his hardline stance on North Korea and a new tax plan.
"A difficult battle starts today," Abe told reporters Cheap Leicester City Hoodies , shaking his fist.
"This is an election about how to protect the lives of people," said the premier. "We have to cooperate with the international community as we face the threat from North Korea."
Abe asked for public support for his "strong diplomacy" on Kim Jong-un's regime, which has threatened to "sink" Japan into the sea and fired missiles over its northern Hokkaido island twice in the space of a month.
"We need to fight for our children's future."
Abe stunned Japan on Monday with a surprise call for a snap election, seeking to capitalize on a weak opposition and a boost in the polls, as voters welcome his hawkish policy toward Pyongyang.
But Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has upended Japanese politics in recent days Cheap Leicester City Shirts , stealing Abe's limelight with her newly launched "Party of Hope" that seeks to shake up the country's lethargic po-litical landscape.
Koike's new party, formally unveiled Wednesday, has attracted an influx of lawmakers from a wide range of ideological backgrounds and has succeeded in unifying opposition to Abe, presenting Japanese voters with a credible alternative to the premier.
Japan's main opposition Democratic Party later Thursday decided not to run candidates in the election, effectively joining forces with Koike's juggernaut.
For the moment Cheap Leicester City Jerseys , although Koike is leading the party, she is not running for a seat in parliament, preferring to concentrate on governing the world's most populous city in the run-up to the 2020 Olympic Games.
TOKYO, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's dissolving the lower house of parliament Thursday and calling a snap election for Oct. 22 was supposed to be a straightforward piece of political brinkmanship aimed at seeing his grip on parliament tightened and his tenure at the helm extended.
Abe has seen the support rate for his cabinet tumble to historic lows following a string of gaffes and blunders linked to his ruling Liberal Democratic Party's and Komeito coalition ally's representatives.
None more so than a double cronyism scandal implicating the Japanese leader himself in both a cut price land deal which favored a nationalist school operator with alleged links to the prime minister, and favoritism shown to a personal friend of Abe in the selection of a veterinary school to be opened in a special deregulated zone in Japan.
"In theory Cheap Wes Morgan Jersey , Abe has more than a year left in office, but he is aware of the fact that his support levels are unlikely to improve much more," said Koichi Nakano, a professor of Japanese politics at Tokyo's Sophia University.
"He has been pushed into a corner by the scandals and he is afraid that once parliament is reconvened, he will face further questioning and another sharp drop in the polls Cheap Shinji Okazaki Jersey ," asserted Nakano.
But no sooner had Abe believed he had ridden the waves of controversy and seen his support rate increase somewhat, he opted to call a snap election and in doing so made sure there would be no parliamentary session at which the opposition parties could take Abe to task over the alleged scandals, political commentators here said.
"There is nothing coincidental about the timing of Abe calling the snap election. As things stood at the time, his support ratings weren't that bad and the main opposition Democratic Party, under its new leader Seiji Maehara Cheap Ron-Robert Zieler Jersey , was in a state of disarray with its members defecting to join other parties," Asian affairs commentator Kaoru Imori told Xinhua.
Imori added that while there were embryonic signs, no one could have predicted the extent to which the opposition camp, with their backs against the wall numerically speaking, could bring about such a monumental realignment that has taken Abe and his ruling LDP-led coalition aback.
Along with other commentators Cheap Robert Huth Jersey , Imori said that political insiders had been keeping a keen eye on popular Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike who announced she will launch a new national political party called "Kibou No To," which means Party of Hope in English.
The Tokyo Gov.'s move follows Koike's Tomin First no Kai's (Tokyoites First party) sweeping victory in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly race in July, which saw off challenges from rival parties, including the ruling LDP, which Abe is also the president of.
The Tokyo metropolitan assembly race is widely regarded as a barometer for the future direction of national politics and triggered rumors among political insiders that Koike was eyeing a return to national politics after her landslide win.
Koike Cheap Riyad Mahrez Jersey , certainly not a political novice, served as a lower house member between 1993 and 2016 at which time she resigned to run in the gubernatorial election, which she won.
She previously held the defense minister portfolio in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but resigned in August 2007 after just 54 days in office.
But of further concern to Abe and the ruling bloc, aside from her political pedigree and a small opposition party formed mainly from defectors
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