Abe promises to reshuffle cabinet, leadership after LDP lets him stay PM

Gaining his ruling coalition's go-head to stay in office despite a historic election defeat, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed Monday to reshuffle his cabinet and his party's executive posts at "an appropriate time," and ruled out an early dissolution of the House of Representatives for a general election.

Earlier in the day, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party decided at a top executive meeting to allow him to remain as prime minister and the party's president, and the LDP and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, reaffirmed that they will maintain their partnership and support the Abe administration.

"I will keep promoting reforms. I expect senior LDP officials to tackle the issue of money and politics more vigorously," Abe told the executive meeting, held a day after the LDP's crushing defeat in the Sunday's House of Councillors election.

The LDP also decided to discuss with the opposition bloc about convening an extraordinary Diet session for four days from Aug 7 after new members of the upper house were elected.

Speaking later at a press conference at LDP headquarters in Tokyo, Abe said, "It is the people's wish to have us reflect on the things we should reflect on and to refresh our minds. I would like to have a cabinet reshuffle and appoint new party executives at an appropriate time."

Asked whether he intends to dissolve the more powerful lower house, he said, "Two years are left in the House of Representatives' term and it is important to achieve things...but, of course, I'm thinking of holding a House of Representatives election at an appropriate time and go to the people."

The Abe administration is expected to face strong pressure to dissolve the lower house from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which topped the LDP to become a party with the largest number of upper house seats.

While the LDP-led coalition lost its majority in the upper chamber for the first time since 1998 in Sunday's election, it still has a comfortable majority in the lower house, which has greater legislative power and the final say on the state budget and the election of a prime minister.

Also brushing aside possible political confusion over legislative procedures and other matters in the Diet, Abe said he wants to seek cooperation with the DPJ by listening to its views on legislative issues.

Abe attributed the defeat to pension-related problems and scandals over political funds which involved cabinet ministers.

The prime minister admitted the election showed "the public does not feel enough" about the revision of the Political Funds Control Law that was passed in the last Diet session in addressing problems linking politics and money.