Taking a recent plunge in his Cabinet¡¯s support rate to heart, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe admitted Monday that his government¡¯s recent handling of alleged favoritism scandals was at fault for stoking voter distrust, and pledged to ¡°sincerely fulfill¡± his duty to explain himself.
¡°I feel very sorry that a large amount of time was spent debating issues unrelated to actual policy during this year¡¯s ordinary Diet session, and that I, myself, sometimes became emotional in responding to questions that I felt were meant to sway public opinion against me,¡± an uncharacteristically humble Abe told an annual news conference marking the conclusion of the legislative session.
The flip-flopping of a government investigation into the Kake Gakuen scandal ¡ª in which Abe allegedly exerted his influence to help open a new veterinary department at a university run by a longtime confidant, Kotaro Kake ¡ª was behind the rise in voter distrust of the government, he said.
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