By Elaine Lies and Ju-min Park TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan s new prime minister, Fumio Kishida, on Monday called a parliamentary election for Oct. 31 and vowed to bolster the country s response to the coronavirus pandemic, shortly after being formally confirmed by lawmakers in the top job. Kishida, a 64-year-old former foreign minister with an image as a consensus builder, earlier unveiled a cabinet line-up dominated by allies of former prime minister Shinzo Abe and ex-finance minister Taro Aso. While Kishida may enjoy a honeymoon period usually afforded new governments by the electorate, political analysts said he probably didn t want to lose time, given risks posed by the pandemic, and that he first needed to rally his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for the forthcoming election. His decision to call an election came as a surprise, even though one has to take place by Nov.28, as the term of this parliament was due to expire on Oct. 21. Parliament will now be dissolved on Oct. 14. Kishida s
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Japan's new leader will appoint little-known but well-connected lawmaker Shunichi Suzuki as finance minister, the Yomiuri daily reported, a choice which analysts said signals continuity in the government's bid to balance growth with fiscal reform.
By Antoni Slodkowski, Ju-min Park and Kiyoshi Takenaka TOKYO (Reuters) - Former foreign minister Fumio Kishida won a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership race on Wednesday, a victory that virtually ensures he will become Japan s next prime minister within days. In an acceptance speech, Kishida vowed to lead a transformed party in a general election due within weeks and continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic which has battered Japan s economy. However, Kishida enjoys only moderate public support and has a bland image and his victory could spell problems for the LDP in the election due by Nov. 28. The LDP leadership election is over. Let us all face the lower house and the upper house elections as one, Kishida said. Our national crisis continues. We need to keeping working hard on the coronavirus response with strong determination, and we need to compile tens of trillions of yen of stimulus package by the end of the year, he said. Kishida defeated former defence and foreign