Fresh from Sunday’s general elections victory, Liberal Democratic Party head Shinzo Abe renewed his promise in a news conference held on Monday to pressure the Bank of Japan into taking a more active role in raising the country out of its current economic slump.
During his campaign, Abe promised to focus on a revised monetary policy to pull Japan out of the fourth economic recession it has experienced in 12 years. In the news conference, he called on the central bank to see the election results as a reflection of the people’s will. Abe said that once he has formed his cabinet on December 26, he will instruct his ministers to double the inflation target set by the bank. Abe is likely to be elected as the next Prime Minister, after having served in the same office for a year in 2006. The LDP won 294 seats in the 480 seat lower house. Together with coalition ally New Komeito, who won 31 seats, it has can muster the necessary two-thirds majority to override the upper house, where rival Democratic Party of Japan is still the majority.
Outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda resigned from office after the DPJ only won 57 seats in the lower house, acknowledging the party’s failure to meet the expectations of the Japanese people. Voter dissatisfaction over the economic woes in 2009 allowed the DPJ to wrest power from LDP, who has led the nation for decades since the end of World War II. However, the DPJ has proven incapable of leading the country and fulfilling the promises it made during its campaign.
[ via Voice of America ]