Most candidates in campaigns for the leadership of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) didn't take a clear stance on key issues such as economic policies and political reform, which had in fact failed to meet expectations of the public, said a Japanese expert.
Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba won the LDP's presidential election on Friday, virtually ensuring that he will become the country's next prime minister.
As the LDP-led coalition constitutes a majority in both chambers of the parliament in Japan, the new party leader is almost certain to be elected prime minister in the extraordinary Diet session scheduled to be held on Oct 1, succeeding the incumbent Fumio Kishida.
The party's political funding scandal, which was disclosed in November last year, has weakened the public support of the Kishida cabinet. A poll conducted by NHK this month indicates that the cabinet gained a disapproval rating of 60 percent, five percentage points higher from last month.
Kazuyuki Hamada, an expert on international politics and economics, said the candidates for the party's leadership are unlikely to respond to the "political and money" issue and the participation of so many fresh candidates in campaigns is likely to draw people's attention away from the political funding scandal.
"The participation of so many fresh candidates, including some female ones, can take people's attention away from the 'politics and money' issue when people are hesitant to make a choice and discuss who will be elected. However, no one can give a response to how to resolve the 'politics and money' issue, and the public distrust of politics cannot be dispelled," said Hamada.
Hamada said it is difficult for the candidates, most of whom didn't take a clear stance on issues such as economic policies and political reform, to arouse expectations from the public.
"The candidates said they need financial authorities to provide funds for growing industries so as to promote economic recovery. However, they didn't clarify which fields will be covered, which are the growing industries, where the Japanese government should invest, and how to guarantee the financial sources. Now we need to boost the economy, but the LDP doubled its defense budget under the pressure of the U.S. Does Japan really need U.S. arms? They didn't make any explanation to the public on all issues above," said Hamada.
"The current political situation in Japan is unsettling to the Japanese people, or doesn't create any expectations for the public. People don't believe the politics could bring anything good, thus, they distance themselves from politics," he said.