Suga LDP transitional government

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Transitional LDP-Komeito continuation of the Abenomics macro stance (BoJ QQE + YCC unchanged, fiscal flexibility via large COVID supplementary budgets) but pivoting the structural-reform arrow toward three operational priorities: (1) digital modernisation — creation of the Digital Agency (Dejitaru-chō) on 1 September 2021 to consolidate fragmented ministerial IT and push My-Number integration; (2) 2050 carbon-neutral pledge announced October 2020 in the Diet, with a 2030 46% emissions-cut target (from 2013 baseline) and the Green Growth Strategy published December 2020 identifying 14 priority industries and a ¥2tn Green Innovation Fund; (3) consumer-facing deregulation of concentrated oligopolies, most visibly the mobile-carrier price reductions extracted from NTT Docomo, KDDI, and SoftBank in 2020-21 (roughly 40% drop in mid-tier plans). Coalition position is standard LDP centre-right — fiscally activist by Western benchmarks, socially conservative, security-realist — but the Suga period is defined by crisis management (COVID, Tokyo Olympics) more than a distinctive economic doctrine. Popularity collapsed from ~65% at inauguration to below 30% by late summer 2021 amid pandemic and Olympics handling; Suga withdrew from the LDP leadership race and did not contest; the October 2021 Shūgiin election under successor Kishida preserved the LDP-Komeito majority (LDP 261 of 465 seats, Komeito 32). Coherence line: Abenomics-macro continuity plus digital + green + consumer-regulatory deregulation, cut short by pandemic politics.