The Yomiuri Shimbun's front page reported that the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Asahi Hayato, was nominated as the 104th Prime Minister by the Diet on the 21st. After the Prime Minister's inauguration and the cabinet certification ceremony at the Imperial Palace, the Hashimoto Cabinet will be launched. She is the first female prime minister in constitutional history. It will replace the Ishikawa Cabinet and become a coalition government with the Japanese Restoration Party. The Prime Minister instructed to formulate economic measures during the first cabinet meeting at midnight on the same day.
The Liberal Democratic Party and the Restoration Party agreed to pass the bill to abolish the temporary gasoline tax rate at the special session of the Diet on the 21st. The government and the ruling party are coordinating to submit the supplementary budget for this fiscal year in early December, which will support economic measures, and is expected to include subsidies for electricity and gas bills, as well as expanded subsidies for local governments.
At the press conference after taking office, the Prime Minister stated, "We will resolutely take measures to deal with high prices faced by the people. Regarding the basic nature of the cabinet, he emphasized, "This cabinet is a progressive decision-making cabinet, and all policies will be advanced by one or two steps."
Before the establishment of the cabinet, the Prime Minister met with the representative of the Restoration Party (Osaka Prefectural Governor) Yoshimura. Although the Restoration Party cooperates with the Prime Minister's government, it does not send cabinet ministers to support the government, known as "cabinet external cooperation." The coalition government still has no majority in both chambers of the House of Representatives, and the situation of a minority ruling party remains unchanged.
The joint government agreement signed by the two parties on the 20th clearly stipulates that the food consumption tax rate will be reduced to 0% and the "next capital concept" will be realized to replace the function of the capital in the event of a disaster.
In the new cabinet, Okamura Haru (66 years old), former Minister of Local Revitalization, was appointed as the first female Minister of Finance. Mr. Okamura comes from the Ministry of Finance and will play a role in implementing Mr. Hashimoto's "responsible and proactive finance." There are two female cabinet ministers: Mr. Okamura and Economic Security Minister Kono Miya (42 years old), who also oversees foreign policy. A total of 52 people, including Agriculture Minister Suzuki Kiichi (10 years old) and Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Matsumoto Hiroyuki (52 years old), have entered the cabinet for the first time.
While surpassing conservative figures such as Chief Cabinet Secretary Kiwada Minoru (56 years old), Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro (44 years old), Minister of Internal Affairs Hayashi Sho (64 years old), and Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu (70 years old), they have created a posture of the party raising its profile. In addition to Koizumi and Hayashi, Economic and Industrial Minister Akazawa Ryo (64 years old) and Minister for Real Estate Growth Strategy Shirokane (60 years old) also slipped away from the Ishikawa Cabinet.
The Prime Minister and cabinet ministers totaled 19, and after the closing of the Osaka Kansai World Expo, the number of ministers decreased by one. Because the Komeito Party withdrew from the alliance, Kinoshita Yasuyuki (64 years old), Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, was appointed from the Liberal Democratic Party for the first time in 16 years. Members who were not included in the political fund income and expenditure reports were not appointed as cabinet ministers.
Original text: www.toutiao.com/article/1846686848763036/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author.