Politics & Government

Kishida forms 2nd Cabinet on heels of election

The Yomiuri Shimbun

November 11, 2021

Fumio Kishida was reconfirmed as prime minister Wednesday at plenary sessions of both chambers of the Diet in a special session convened following the House of Representatives election.

The prime minister inaugurated his second Cabinet the same evening, appointing former education minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, 60, as foreign minister. All other ministers were reappointed from the Cabinet that Kishida had selected last month.

Toshimitsu Motegi was the foreign minister in that first Cabinet, but after Kishida in his role as Liberal Democratic Party president appointed Motegi as LDP secretary general, the prime minister concurrently served as foreign minister. Motegi replaced Akira Amari, who was defeated in his single-seat constituency in the Oct. 31 general election.

Prior to the Diet vote on the prime minister, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, 77, of the LDP was elected as lower house speaker, and former economy minister Banri Kaieda, 72, of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan was chosen as vice speaker during the afternoon plenary session.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida enters the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday morning.

Kishida also met Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi to confirm that their parties will maintain their ruling coalition.

In the morning, Hayashi said to reporters, “I will fulfill my heavy responsibilities to support the Kishida administration.”

That evening, Kishida held a Cabinet meeting after attending his investiture ceremony and an attestation ceremony for newly appointed ministers at the Imperial Palace.

He also held a press conference during which he pledged to make every effort to realize his policy of a new form of capitalism to bring about a virtuous cycle of growth and wealth distribution. He also explained the government’s basic policies to deal with a possible surge in coronavirus infections.

The special Diet session will be held through Friday. The government and the ruling parties plan to convene an extraordinary Diet session in early December with the aim of passing by the year-end a supplementary budget for fiscal 2021 that includes economic measures.