国际英语资讯:News Analysis: Bumpy road ahead for Japans Abe following rank-and-file backlash in LDP lea_时事

国际英语资讯:News Analysis: Bumpy road ahead for Japans Abe following rank-and-file backlash in LDP lea

"Significant segments of the public will continue to resist the efforts to revise Article 9 and there is near unanimous opposition to Japan becoming a nuclear power," the expert said.

With Abe only gaining about 55 percent of all votes at the local level in the leadership election, members in the ruling camp have been quoted as saying the figures were "shocking," particularly as they closely reflect public opinion.

LDP party members have also said that the worse-than-expected voting numbers could suggest that victory in the upper house election slated for the summer of 2019 might not be a shoo-in for the ruling camp, with an LDP executive describing the outcome of the leadership vote as "a revolt from the local regions."

Criticism is now swirling within the ruling party following Thursday's presidential election, reflecting rising dissent from factions within the party based on the lack of support for Abe staying at the helm from the party's own rank-and-file members, sources close to the matter said.

People both support and don't support him (Abe) at the same time, said Masao Matsumoto, professor in the Social Survey Research Center at Saitama University, highlighting the political and public divide.

And, Abe's sole rival in the leadership race was of the same opinion, in terms of both the ruling party and its leader and a growing lack of cohesion.

"The presidential election demonstrated the LDP is not of one color," Ishiba told a press briefing after the vote, underscoring the fact that the road ahead for the party and its president is, indeed, a bumpy one.