Ishiba dissolves Japan’s lower house to set up an Oct. 27 parliamentary election

TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba dissolved Japan’s lower house of parliament Wednesday to set up an Oct. 27 early election and seek the voters’ mandate for his 9-day-old government.

Ishiba took office last week as Fumio Kishida resigned after three years leading the governing Liberal Democratic Party as it was dogged by corruption scandals.

With the early election, Ishiba is seeking to secure his governing party’s a house majority while he is still fresh and before the congratulatory mood fades.

The move has been criticized as prioritizing an election rather than policies and for allowing little debate. But Japan’s opposition has remained too fractured to push the governing party out of power.

Ishiba announced his plans for an election even before he won the party leadership vote and became prime minister. His Cabinet planned later Wednesday to formally announce the election date and the start of campaigning next Tuesday.

Ishiba and his Cabinet will stay in office until they win the election and are reappointed.

The speaker of the house, Fukushiro Nukaga, announced the dissolution of the lower, more powerful of the two parliamentary chambers at a plenary session. All 465 lawmakers stood up, chanted “banzai” and rushed out of the assembly room.

Official campaigning begins next Tuesday.

“We will act fairly and squarely in order to win the people’s endorsement for the current administration,” Ishiba told reporters. “Even while the lower house is dissolved the Japanese government must fully function” in tackling national security, disaster response and deflation, he said. “We will devote all our body and soul for the people.”

Ishiba is to explain the election plans at a news conference late Wednesday, just before