Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said he thinks it preferable to hold a general election this fall rather than wait until next year when the current Lower House term ends in a meeting with an executive of the Komeito party, a source with knowledge of the meeting said Tuesday.
Aso met with Tetsuo Saito, secretary general of the junior coalition partner of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, on Monday, the source said, adding Saito did not express support for the idea.
Aso, a close aide to the prime minister, is apparently of the view that Abe should call an election at an early date with his term as LDP president and thus prime minister ending in September 2021.