TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2020) The approval rating for the government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decreased to record 27 percent, dropping by 13 percentage points since early May, in the light of a scandal involving the chief of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office, Hiromu Kurokawa, according to a fresh poll.
On May 6, a similar poll showed that the approval rating for the Abe's cabinet stood at 40 percent.
According to the new poll conducted by Mainichi newspaper and published on Saturday, the disapproval rating for Abe's cabinet has increased to 64 percent from 45 percent in the previous survey.
Abe's government has not seen such low approval rating for nearly three years. It comes amid a scandal involving Kurokawa, who had violated the coronavirus-related self-isolation regime by playing mahjong for money with other people. Gambling is illegal in Japan.
On Friday, the Japanese government accepted the resignation of Kurokawa. The situation has been complicated by the fact that the Japanese government has recently allowed Kurokawa to stay in his post beyond retirement age of 63. Many suspect it had been done to appoint him, a person close to the prime minister, as the next prosecutor-general. Nearly 50 percent of respondents believe that Abe and Justice Minister Masako Mori were responsible for the situation with Kurokawa.
