Shinzo Abe is experiencing the toughest period of his political life, the Japanese prime minister struggles to deal with scandals.
A lot of resignations and scandals, sliding popularity and losing the personal political capital make the life of Shinzo Abe very difficult. Being under pressure of the circumstances, Shinzo Abe looks worn out despite his excellent health conditions.
Instead of taking a well-earned summer break, Mr Abe is doing his best to avoid the scandals, resignations and significant decrease of his popularity. Since 2012, Abe has led one of Japan’s most stable post-war governments but in 2016, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) rewrote its rules to allow him to seek a third term as party president. That puts him on course to become Japan’s longest-serving prime minister in 2019.
Prime minister Abe answers claims on corruption
This week, prime minister Abe was on the summer break, that was unexpectedly interrupted with the official invitation. Japanese PM was forced to return to parliament to answer claims that he helped a friend win government approval to build a new veterinary school. The approval is worth millions of dollars in free land and grants – was it a corrupted deal or common charity?
Abe told parliament he played no part in nudging bureaucrats to help Kake Educational Institution open the vet school. He admitted that he and Kotaro Kake, the institution’s director, go “way back” but insisted they never discussed his friend’s application to build the school over a string of golf games and expensive dinners. Those denials have convinced few people.
