Elections to test Ishiba’s ability to build a solid political base

The October 27 general election, the first national vote since a bribery scandal within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party was uncovered, is being presented as an early test of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s leadership, which is already struggling with a fragile base of party support and public skepticism.

Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Ishiba chose to launch the party’s campaign in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, one of the areas hardest hit by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and its aftermath.

“Without the reconstruction of Fukushima, there can be no recovery for the Tohoku region; without the recovery of Tohoku, there can be no resurgence of Japan,” Ishiba said, apologizing for the mud funds scandal. “I am here to bet on the birth of a new Japan, together with the region of I notice.”