TOKYO, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that he is still considering whether to run for a third term as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
"We have been trying our best to deal with the disaster (in western Japan) and I didn't have time to consider the race," Abe told a press conference Friday night.
The LDP has extended last year the party president's maximum tenure from two consecutive three-year terms to three consecutive terms, paving the way for an extended Abe administration till 2021.
If re-elected, the prime minister will also have more time for realizing his long-term dream of revising Japan's pacifist constitution.
Regarding the recent heavy rain and subsequent landslides and flooding in western Japan, Abe said that the central and municipal governments will try their best to help local people reconstruct their home and return to normal life.
The Japanese opposition camp, however, has slammed Abe's cabinet for failing to make sufficient efforts to respond to the disaster which killed more than 200 people, choosing instead to prioritize wrangling over some unimportant bills.
Japanese opposition bloc has also been vexed by a number of contentious bills that have been rammed through parliament owing to the ruling camp's overwhelming majority during the current Diet session, which is to end on Sunday.
One such bill, which was enacted Friday at an upper house plenary session despite widespread political and public condemnation, regards the opening of Integrated Resort (IR) facilities across Japan that will include casinos for gambling.
Abe's government and party have been under fire for a series of scandals, including two school-linked cronyism scandals, implicating the prime minister himself.
Abe apologized for the scandals at the press conference, saying that they damaged the people's trust, and as prime minister, one should be extremely cautious in government affairs.
Meanwhile, he stressed the economic achievements Japan has made since he retook office in 2012, citing an increase of 56 trillion yen (501 billion U.S. dollars) in Japan's nominal GDP in the past five years.
He also said that Japan will seek to avoid becoming the target of steep automobile tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is considering on "national security" grounds.
"Exchanges of trade restrictions benefit no one. We will continue to explain this to the United States," he said.
Abe's cabinet survived earlier in the day a no-confidence motion jointly submitted by opposition parties amid a series of scandals and what the opposition bloc has described as "high-handed" politics.