Abe faces new challenge as he calls snap election

Party of Hope chief Yuriko Koike

TOKYO, Sept 28 (Agencies): Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has dissolved the lower house of the parliament ahead of a snap election.
The poll, announced on Monday and which comes a year early, will take place on 22 October.
Mr Abe is seeking a fresh mandate amid a rebound in his approval ratings and the ongoing North Korea nuclear crisis.
The right-wing hawk became prime minister in 2012, and his Liberal Democrat Party (LDP) leads a ruling coalition that controls the Diet.
Mr Abe suffered a drop in popularity earlier this year over allegations of cronyism.
But he's seen fresh support after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles over Japan, which Mr Abe took a strong stance against.
His call for a snap election was seen as taking advantage of a weak opposition, and the LDP is still leading in opinion polls.
But he now faces a new contender in the form of the fledgling conservative Party of Hope, which was only formally unveiled on Wednesday and has already begun attracting some support.
It is led by the popular Yuriko Koike, Tokyo's first female governor and a former television news anchor.
Several lawmakers from the main opposition Democratic Party, which has been struggling, have already defected to the Party of Hope.
On Thursday, the Democratic Party's leader proposed to his members a de facto merger where all their candidates would run under the Party of Hope's banner, in order to present a united challenge to Mr Abe and the LDP.
Minutes after the lower house dissolution, Abe made a fiery speech to party members. He said he is seeking a public mandate on his tough diplomatic and defense policies to deal with escalating threats from North Korea, and that party members would have to relay his message to win voter support during the campaign.
"This election is about how we protect Japan, the people's lives and peaceful daily life," Abe said. "The election is about the future of our children."
The move is not without risks, but analysts say the timing may be better now than later. The Democratic Party, the largest opposition group, is in disarray, and the sudden election gives the Party of Hope little time to organize candidates and a campaign strategy.
Media polls, though, show the new party off to a respectable start, though still trailing the LDP.
Jeff Kingston, a professor at Temple University's Japan Campus in Tokyo, called Koike's new party a game changer.
"I think it is really bad news for Abe," he said. "She doesn't actually have to win, but she has to inflict a bloody nose on Abe ... If her party does better than expected, expect the long knives to come out in the LDP, and Abe could be ushered to the exit."