As Oct 31 election looms, Japan's new PM has little time to win voters over

THERE are just 18 days to go until Japan's next general election, which takes place barely a month after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) leader Fumio Kishida bested three rivals and became his country's 100th prime minister.

The 64-year-old former foreign minister, replacing the deeply unpopular Yoshihide Suga who spent just over a year in the hot seat, has an uphill task ahead of the key vote, which he hopes will maintain a lower house majority for the LDP and its Komeito party coalition partner.

Many political analysts were expecting the election to be held in the first half of November, but Kishida brought it forward to Oct 31, in an apparent effort to capitalise on the good will towards his government and a steady decline in new daily Covid-19 infections.