Shinzo Abe was re-elected as the prime minister of Japan on Wednesday at a special parliamentary session, after his ruling coalition won a two-thirds majority in snap elections in October.
Abe reappointed all his ministers who were selected in a reshuffle in August, Nikkei Asian Review reported. They include Taro Aso as deputy prime minister and finance minister, Taro Kono as foreign minister, Itsunori Onodera as defence minister and Yoshihide Suga as the chief cabinet secretary.
His re-election comes just days before United States President Donald Trump’s trip to Japan. Their meeting is expected to be dominated by concerns over Japan’s volatile neighbour North Korea, Reuters reported.
On September 28, Abe had dissolved Parliament and called for snap elections after local surveys suggested that voters approved of his firm line on North Korea, which fired two ballistic missiles over northern Japan in recent months.
In the elections in October, Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito alliance won 313 of the 465 seats in Japan’s House of Representatives. The Liberal Democratic Party won 284 seats on its own, giving it an “absolute majority” that allows it to control every standing committee in the Lower House.
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