Abe vows cabinet reshuffle after election defeat

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TOKYO, July 30 (AFP): Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Monday to reshuffle his scandal-plagued cabinet and push forward his conservative agenda after voters handed his party a landmark defeat.
The Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan almost continuously since 1955, failed for the first time to be the largest party in a chamber of parliament, with the left-centre opposition taking control of the upper house.
But Abe ruled out quitting or calling a new general election, setting the stage for political gridlock in the world's second-largest economy.
Abe said he believed voters still supported his core ideas, including his push to rewrite the post-World War II pacifist constitution, and had rejected his party due to scandals involving some of his cabinet ministers.
"It is my responsibility to continue with my mission in building a new nation and pushing for reform," said Abe, Japan's first prime minister born after World War II.
"I have the responsibility in appointing cabinet members and the voters have called for a reshuffle of the cabinet," he said. Reports said he would carry out the reshuffle by early September.
In 10 months in office, two of Abe's ministers have resigned and another committed suicide, only to be replaced by a successor who was also embroiled in dirty money allegations.
Abe's approval ratings nosedived this year when the pensions agency admitted misplacing millions of payment records -- a sensitive issue in a rapidly ageing country.
He acknowledged that anger over the pension row had trumped his push for constitutional reform, on which he pledged to carry on "profound discussions" over the coming years.
But rebels within the party openly questioned the wisdom of Abe's refusal to step down.
"Many voters decided that Prime Minister Abe, or his government, isn't qualified for the job," said Taro Kono, a maverick lawmaker from the party's liberal wing.
"He cannot carry on like before," Kono told Fuji television. "The problems in his cabinet took a heavy toll on votes. He must correct what he has to correct."
Some major newspapers also said that Abe lost credibility after his Liberal Democratic-led coalition lost nearly half of the seats it was defending in the upper house.