Hagiuda Seen Retaining LDP Post in Party Exec Reshuffle

Tokyo, Sept. 9 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is considering retaining Koichi Hagiuda as executive acting secretary-general of her ruling Liberal Democratic Party in a planned reshuffle of the LDP’s executive lineup, LDP sources said Wednesday. Takaichi is expected to maintain the current party executive lineup, including LDP Vice President Taro Aso. In the planned reshuffle of her cabinet, she is also likely to retain Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in his current post. Attention is focused on whether internal affairs minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will stay on. Hagiuda had close relations with the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and assumed his current LDP post in October last year. He has been in charge of coordinating policy and parliamentary affairs with the prime minister’s office and the Japan Innovation Party, the LDP’s coalition partner. Hagiuda has also supported Aso and LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki. In the reshuffle of the LDP’s executive lineup, Takaichi is also expected to keep Suzuki and LDP policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi in their current positions. The prime minister held talks with Aso for some 30 minutes at the prime minister’s office on Wednesday. The government and the ruling parties are considering approving tax system reform proposals at a cabinet meeting on Sept. 15 that would feature a plan to lower the consumption tax rate on food. The prime minister is expected to reshuffle the LDP’s executive lineup as early as Sept. 16, with the possibility of her reshuffling her cabinet on Sept. 17. Meanwhile, the government and the ruling parties are considering convening an extraordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament, on Oct. 5. The ruling coalition aims to have the Diet enact legislation to lower the consumption tax rate on food, while hoping to realize a reduction in the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]