The shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has had a major impact on the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. As president of the Liberal Democratic Party, Kishida is doing his best to keep the party's Abe faction in line so that the government can run smoothly.
Abe became the chairperson of that faction -- the LDP's largest -- in November 2021 and had exercised great influence within the party. The Abe faction has 97 members, about a quarter of the LDP's Diet members. The Kishida faction, with 43 members, is only the fourth largest faction within the party. For Kishida, the support of the Abe faction, the 50-member Aso faction and the 54-member Motegi faction is indispensable.
