Wife of Late PM Abe to Head Support Group for His Successor

Tokyo, May 25 (Jiji Press)--The wife of the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will head a support group for House of Representatives lawmaker Shinji Yoshida, who took over Abe's constituency, it was learned Thursday.

Yoshida won a Lower House seat for the first time in a by-election held in April for the Yamaguchi No. 4 constituency seat, which had been vacant since the former prime minister's death last year.

The appointment of Akie as the head of Yoshida's support group is apparently aimed at bolstering his image as the legitimate successor to Abe.

In Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, the number of Lower House constituencies will be reduced from four to three, as a result of an electoral map revamp to reduce vote-value disparities.

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[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]