Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe calls snap election

25 September, Tokyo

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called an election a year early and will dissolve parliament on Thursday.

He seeks a fresh term at the helm of the world’s third-largest economy as tensions with nearby North Korea reach fever-pitch.

Abe hopes to capitalise on a weak and fractured opposition to sweep back into power. Polls show him regaining ground after a series of scandals.

The Prime Minister did not give a date for the election but it will reportedly be on the 22nd of next month.

Surveys suggest voters approve of the hardline stance taken by the nationalist Abe on North Korea, which fired two missiles over the country in the space of a month and has threatened to sink Japan.