総裁選支えた「菅グループ」　無派閥・非世襲の若手集う

"Suga Cabinet" supported by the presidential election Young non-faction and non-hereditary gather

Yoshihide Suga, a "non-faction, non-hereditary", became the 99th prime minister on the 16th. In recent years, the prime minister from the Liberal Democratic Party is a family of politicians and many members belong to factions, and Mr. Suga has a unique career. Behind the faction's seizure of the presidency without having an internal party base was the support of the same "non-faction, non-hereditary" young member of the Diet. "Please run for the LDP presidential election."

"I will keep up with you." On August 31, 14 young members of the House of Representatives, who packed up in Mr. Suga's office, conveyed their thoughts to Mr. Suga one by one. Mr. Suga replied that he would finish listening while nodding. "I'm prepared for that." The members gathered have three things in common. (1) The House of Representatives is elected four times or less, (2) does not belong to a faction, and (3) is a "non-hereditary" whose parent is not a member of parliament. Manabu Sakai and Tomohiro Yamamoto, who are the same as Mr. Suga from Kanagawa Prefecture, have the group name "Ganesha no Kai". Hideki Makihara, who did not participate on that day, is one of the members.

The following day, on September 1, 11 members of the House of Councilors, including Dai Shimamura and Shingo Miyake, requested Mr. Suga to run. All of them are also "non-faction / non-hereditary", and most of them are elected to the upper house twice or less. Both groups are a group of lawmakers who support Mr. Suga and meet regularly. There are several other members of the Diet who are non-factional and have strong ties to Mr. Suga individually. The total number of people is 30 to 40, and it is called "Suga Cabinet" within the party. Although he has played a key role in the long-term administration as Chief Cabinet Secretary, it is difficult to become prime minister without a party base. There was also a "basic vote" called "Suga Cabinet" behind the fact that 5 of the 7 factions in the party supported Mr. Suga in the presidential election. The young members of the Diet were in charge of coordinating the transmission of SNS (exchange site) and online round-table conferences with local members in the presidential election. For Mr. Suga, it is a more reliable production unit than other faction members.

The "Suga Cabinet" has been working inconspicuously so far. In addition to Mr. Suga's negative faction politics, it was necessary to refrain from any movement that could be mistaken as a counter-attack to Mr. Shinzo Abe as Chief Cabinet Secretary supporting the administration. It is the same context as Mr. Suga answered "I have no idea at all" every time he was asked about his willingness to elect the president. It is different from the faction's activities. For example, factions use the funds collected at political fund parties to support their members. In the case of cabinet reshuffle and party officer personnel, the wishes of the members of the Diet are put together in a list and handed over to the Prime Minister's Office. The "Suga Cabinet" does not at least expose these activities. In factions, it is common for factions to greet the leaders at the beginning and end of the general meeting, but in principle Mr. Suga does not attend regular meetings of each group. It takes the form of a voluntary gathering of non-faction volunteers who yearn for Mr. Suga.

Source: https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO63999820X10C20A9000000/