Fumio Kishida, who was on Wednesday elected the 27th president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, made a full-fledged start Thursday, with plans to make a formal decision on party executive appointments Friday.
Kishida, 64, set to be nominated as Japan's next prime minister at an extraordinary Diet session to be convened Monday, is also working to select the members of his cabinet, which he will launch the same day.
"I have a lot to do after taking office. I have a tight schedule, so I'm working at a fast pace," Kishida said to reporters as he arrived at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday morning. He refrained from elaborating on personnel matters. "I am thinking about it carefully," he said.
At a press conference after winning the election Wednesday, Kishida said he intends to implement economic measures worth tens of trillions of yen by the end of this year.
He also said that he would make a decision on the dissolution of the House of Representatives "at the appropriate time after assessing the political situation," and that the criteria on which he would consider victory in the lower house election would be that "the ruling coalition wins a majority of the house." The dissolution is expected in mid-October and the election campaign is expected to start on Oct. 26, with voting on Nov. 7.
Regarding measures against the novel coronavirus, he said, "We will regain the spirit of doing our best together and tackle this national crisis as one team."
To rebuild the exhausted economy, he said that he would establish a new kind of capitalism. "I would like to realize a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution, and adopt economic policies that will raise the incomes and salaries of many people."
As for his campaign pledge to limit tenure in LDP executive positions to three years -- meaning three consecutive one-year terms -- he emphasized, "I have not retreated one millimeter from my commitment to party reform."
In the election, Kishida defeated Taro Kono, 58, minister of administrative and regulatory reform; Sanae Takaichi, 60, former internal affairs and communications minister; and Seiko Noda, 61, the party's executive acting secretary general.
Kishida called on party members to achieve unity in preparation for the general elections.
"Let's all work together as a party to take on the House of Representatives and House of Councillors elections, like a baseball team playing a match together," Kishida said at a general meeting of the members of both houses of the Diet after the election.
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