Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida dissolved the House of Representatives on Thursday for a general election at the end of the month as he seeks a public mandate for his government launched just last week.
The election, with the coronavirus response and economic policies of the various parties to the fore, will be held on Oct 31 after the four-year term of lower house members expires on Oct 21.
The Liberal Democratic Party headed by Mr Kishida is hoping to capitalise on a recent decline in Covid-19 cases, while opposition leaders are still scrambling to create a united front.
It is the first time in Japan's post-war history that a general election will be held after the lawmakers' term has expired, and the period between the dissolution of the lower house and voting day will be the shortest.
House of Representatives speaker Tadamori Oshima announced the dissolution in a plenary session, prompting lawmakers of the lower chamber to stand up and shout banzai (cheers) as they lost their seats.
Official campaigning for the election is set to start on Tuesday.
Mr Kishida asked for the support of his fellow LDP members after the dissolution, saying, "We are expecting a tough battle and we are fighting it out together."
Yukio Edano, the leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, criticised the ruling party's coronavirus response as "always running behind".
"The LDP cannot change. We need to change the government itself," Mr Edano said.
For Mr Kishida, who won the LDP leadership race on Sept 29 and was chosen as prime minister on Oct 4 by parliament, which is controlled by the LDP-led coalition, the general election will be a chance to secure wider public support for his policies focusing on enhancing the coronavirus response and reviving the world's third-largest economy hit by the pandemic.
Of the 465 seats in the lower house, the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito won 310 at the last election in October 2017. Mr Kishida has said the ruling coalition is seeking to win at least 233 seats this time.
A Kyodo News poll last month showed 44.5% of the respondents were planning to cast ballots for the LDP in the proportional representation section, while 14.9% said they will vote for the CDPJ.
Mr Kishida, advocating what he calls a "new capitalism", has promised to roll out an economic package worth "tens of trillions of yen" and redistribute the fruits of growth in an attempt to build a stronger middle class. But he has emphasised in recent days that Japan needs to first achieve an economic expansion.
Mr Kishida said he is also committed to bolstering the government's response to Covid-19 while laying out plans for a review of security strategy and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of an increasingly assertive China and the North Korean missile threat.
In facing the powerful ruling party and Komeito, the CDPJ and three other opposition parties — the Japanese Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party and Reiwa Shinsengumi — have been trying to join forces.
They came up with a set of joint pledges last month, including lowering the consumption tax and increasing taxes on the rich, while seeking to jointly back single candidates in constituencies in a bid to raise the chances winning seats, although there are still areas in which they have yet to agree, such as candidates.
Mr Kishida is also not in the best shape as the approval rating for his cabinet shortly after its launch stood at 55.7% in the Kyodo poll, short of the 66.4% for that of his predecessor Yoshihide Suga upon its formation in September last year.
It remains uncertain whether Mr Kishida can bring about a change as key posts in his cabinet were given to people with close ties to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, suggesting a radical policy shift from recent administrations is unlikely.
Mr Kishida's pledge to reduce wealth disparities has already come into question after he backed down on his plan to consider raising the rate of capital gains tax.
The CDPJ has stressed that Japan will not be able to achieve steady economic growth and poverty reduction if there is no redistribution of wealth first.
The party is vowing to increase taxes on rich individuals and large companies while easing the burden on lower- and middle-income households.
The CDPJ is calling for a temporary lowering of the consumption tax from the current 10% to 5% and effectively exempting people who earn less than about 10 million yen annually from paying income tax.
