Job on line, Abe to reshuffle cabinet

TOKYO (AFP) - Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to form a new cabinet Monday in a tough balancing act between reuniting his party and trying to regain public support.

Abe, whose first cabinet was plagued by incessant scandals, is expected to choose experienced lawmakers who can face off an emboldened opposition, analysts said.

The conservative premier led the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to a massive defeat in the July 29 upper house elections, letting the opposition take control of the chamber for the first time since 1955.

"A key for the cabinet reshuffle is to reunite the divided ruling party and to buy time until the political storm passes," said Shujiro Kato, professor at Toyo University.

"It would be a better idea to go safe than to gamble" with personnel decisions, he said.

Abe, who at 52 is Japan's youngest prime minister since World War II, came to power in September as the chosen successor of Junichiro Koizumi, a reformist who enjoyed intense public support.