Japan's Abe not considering 3rd term as party president

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday that he is not considering remaining in his position as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) beyond his second term which will see his tenure end in September 2018.

Abe made the remarks following a cabinet reshuffle and shaking up the ruling party's executive lineup earlier in the day.

"I'm not considering it at all," the prime minister was quoted as saying at a press briefing following the announcement of his newly rejigged cabinet and party executives.

LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai who took up the portfolio Wednesday in the reshuffle had been pushing for the ruling party to amend its rules to allow for its presidents to serve a third term.

The current LDP party rules limit its presidents to just two terms, however.

Nikai had previously said if it served the party's and the leader's interests he would support an extension for a third term.

Abe also said in the briefing that his new cabinet will commit to the challenges that Japan is currently facing and following the inauguration ceremony, maintained that the economy would be the top priority as well as reforming working conditions here.

However, his controversial appointment of Tomomi Inada, former head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council, as defense minister, replacing Gen Nakatani, has led political observers to believe the prime minister's goals also include the revision of the nation's pacifist Constitution by a referendum.

Should the potential referendum go the prime minister's way, the nation's Self-Defense Forces could see their operational scope broadly extended, in the biggest security shift since WWII.

Inada is known as a political hawk, with contentious views on history and a right wing stance on the future course of the nations politics.

She is also a close ally of Abe's and the pair share many of the same political views. Enditem