Japan’s Abe to Call Election for Oct. 22 as Support Rises

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will call a general election for Oct. 22, according to three people with knowledge of his ruling coalition’s plans, seeking to take advantage of a recovery in support and nip in the bud a challenge from a new opposition party.

Heightened tensions with North Korea have helped restore voter approval damaged by a series of scandals, and may help Abe retain his coalition’s two-thirds majority in the lower house. His ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s campaign will focus on a pledge to increase education spending by putting off a target for reining in the budget deficit, as well as a more divisive plan to revise the pacifist constitution, according to domestic media reports.