which may stymie cooperation

Ishiba will find it difficult to convince powerful constituencies that he would take care of their interests, which may stymie cooperation on key policy pronouncements after his re-election Internally within the party, Ishiba’s selection of loyalists and supporters to his Cabinet has created a visible rift between the far-right and the centre-right. Especially galling to these sections is the appointment to the Cabinet of Seiichiro Murakami, who caused outrage when he called Abe a ‘traitor’ (国賊, kokuzoku, lit. seller-out of the country) after the former Prime Minister’s assassination in 2022.14 Several members of this ideological element ufabet