Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday that he has no intention of dissolving parliament, two days after his Liberal Democratic Party lost three seats in House of Representatives by-elections with a slush funds scandal eroding the LDP's popularity.
Kishida told reporters that the LDP and the government will "concentrate on achieving results by tackling several issues" such as political funds reform and that he has "no plan at all" to dissolve the lower house for a snap election.
Sunday's by-elections were held as the LDP, mainly backed by conservative voters, has come under intense scrutiny after some of its factions neglected to report portions of their income from fundraising parties and accumulated slush funds for their members.
The LDP's only candidate in the three by-elections lost to his rival from the leading opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, headed by left-leaning lower house lawmaker Kenta Izumi, in Shimane Prefecture, known as a conservative stronghold.
Following the by-elections, the opposition bloc has been accelerating demands for Kishida to dissolve the lower house as soon as possible amid growing expectations that the LDP could face a major setback if a general election were held in the near future.
After mistakenly referring to Shimane by the name of its neighboring prefecture Tottori, Kishida acknowledged that the political funds scandal negatively affected the election's outcome, saying he "felt sorry" for the candidate and took the result "seriously."
The ruling party's crushing defeat could prompt its lawmakers to try to oust Kishida before the next general election, making it difficult for him to seek reelection in the LDP's presidential race around September.
The slush funds scandal has pushed down the approval ratings for Kishida's Cabinet to their lowest level since it was launched in October 2021. They have fallen far below 30 percent, a threshold widely recognized as the "danger level" for a government.
The current four-year terms for lower house members expire in October 2025 unless Kishida dissolves the chamber. Under Japan's Constitution, the prime minister has the authority to decide whether to dissolve the lower house.
The support rate for the government has also plunged as it has been criticized for failing to take effective measures to curb the Japanese yen's fall to 34-year lows against the U.S. dollar, which has pushed up import costs and prevented the realization of wage rises exceeding sharp price hikes.
On Tuesday, Kishida declined to comment on whether Japan has stepped into the foreign exchange market to buy the yen, after the currency dropped to a new 34-year low in the 160 range against the dollar the previous day.
As the yen briefly rallied to the 154 yen level, some dealers suspected Japanese authorities may have intervened in the foreign exchange market to stem the yen's slide, but the country's top currency diplomat did not confirm whether the government had done so.
Masato Kanda, vice finance minister for international affairs, told reporters on Tuesday that the government "will take appropriate steps based on international rules," while remaining mum about whether Japan had conducted a foreign exchange intervention.
Related coverage:
With or without official word on intervention, weak yen may persist
FOCUS: Kishida may have hard time being reelected as PM after by-elections
