Second Abe Cabinet
96th Cabinet of Japan
Prime Minister Shinzō Abe (front row, centre) with his new cabinet inside the Kantei, December 26, 2012
Date formed	December 26, 2012
Date dissolved	December 24, 2014
People and organisations
Head of state	Emperor Akihito
Head of government	Shinzō Abe
Deputy head of government	Tarō Asō
Member party	Liberal Democratic–New Komeito Coalition
Status in legislature	Divided Diet (Until 2013) HoR: Coalition supermajority HoC: Coalition minority (Before 2013), majority (After 2013)
Opposition party	Democratic Party of Japan
Opposition leader	Banri Kaieda
History
Election(s)	2012 general election 2013 councillors election
Predecessor	Noda Cabinet
Successor	Third Abe Cabinet

The Second Abe Cabinet governed Japan under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe from December 2012 to December 2014. Following the return to power of the LDP in the 2012 general election, Abe, as party president, was elected Prime Minister by the National Diet on December 26, 2012, and presented his cabinet for swearing in by the Emperor later that day. Abe formed a coalition with the New Komeito Party, which has partnered with the LDP since the late 1990s, appointing former leader Akihiro Ota as Minister of Land. Together the two parties controlled a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, allowing the new government in most matters to override the veto of the upper house which was controlled by the opposition parties until July 2013.^[1][2]

This cabinet was the most stable in post-war Japanese history, with no ministerial changes for 617 days until Abe conducted a reshuffle on September 3, 2014. The core ministers for Finance, Foreign Affairs, Economic Revival, Education, Land and the Chief Cabinet Secretary were all kept in post. In addition, Abe promoted 3 women to cabinet, matching the Koizumi cabinet's record of 5 women ministers.^[3]

Following the 2014 general election, the Second Abe cabinet was dissolved on December 24, 2014, and replaced with the Third Abe cabinet.

Election of the prime minister

26 December 2012

House of Representatives
Choice		Vote
		Parties	Votes
	YShinzō Abe	LDP (294), NKP (31), Independents (3)	328 / 480
	Banri Kaieda	DPJ (57)	57 / 480
	Shintaro Ishihara	JRP (54)	54 / 480
	Yoshimi Watanabe	YP (18)	18 / 480
	Kazuo Shii	Communist (8)	8 / 480
	Yuko Mori	PLP (7)	7 / 480
	Mizuho Fukushima	SDP (2)	2 / 480
	Shozaburo Jimi	PNP (1)	1 / 480
	Abstentions	Independents (2)	2 / 480
Source: 182nd Diet, December 26 House of Representatives plenary session Archived 2016-09-18 at the Wayback Machine

182nd Diet, 26 December 2012 House of Councillors plenary session

Designation of a prime minister[4][5]
Candidate	First round	Runoff
Y Shinzō Abe	107	107
Banri Kaieda	87	96
Yoshimi Watanabe	11	–
Yūko Mori	8	–
Kazuo Shii	6	–
Mizuho Fukushima	5	–
Shōzaburō Jimi	3	–
Shintarō Ishihara	3	–
Shizuka Kamei	1	–
Invalid votes	0	1
Blank ballots	3	30
Total votes cast	234 (→majority at 118)	234

Lists of ministers

  Liberal Democratic
  New Komeito
R = Member of the House of Representatives
C = Member of the House of Councillors

Cabinet

Reshuffled cabinet

Changes

• October 20 – Justice Minister Midori Matsushima and Economy Minister Yūko Obuchi, both resigned due to campaign finance scandals, and were replaced with Yōko Kamikawa and Yoichi Miyazawa, respectively. This reduced the number of women in cabinet to 4.^[6]