Abe becomes LDP president

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Abe becomes LDP president

The Liberal Democratic Party on September 20 chose Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe Shinzo as the successor of Koizumi Jun'ichiro in its presidential election. Abe is expected to announce his Cabinet lineup soon after he is elected prime minister in the extraordinary Diet session on September 26.

At a news conference on the same day Abe emphasized that he will take over the Koizumi "structural reform" policy that has brought about a dog-eat-dog society, saying, "Throughout my campaign I have said that the reform has to be accelerated."

He showed his strong intention for constitutional revision by saying that he will begin to take steps towards creating a country suitable for the 21st century.

He made clear that in the extraordinary Diet session he gives top priority to enacting a bill to adversely revise the Fundamental Law of Education. He also said he will seek to extend the Special Measures Law on Terrorism.

With regard to an increase in the consumption tax, he said, "I have never said that I would not increase the consumption tax rate. I will give consideration to it in planning a comprehensive reform of the taxation system."

On economic policy, he introduced an idea to reduce investment taxes for the benefit of large corporations, saying, "We must push ahead with deregulation."
- Akahata, September 21, 2006