Why should Abe call the snap election?

Abe said he has to ask the people whether he can continue his Abenomics policies, now that the third of his three “arrows” has remained in the quiver because of the opposition of the vested interests it is intended to undermine. The fact is that he has to pacify the consumers by postponing until 2017 the 10 percent sales tax hike set for October next year in order just to make his increasingly unpopular LDP stay in power for four more years.

That's why Abe had to pocket his pride by admitting there is a sovereignty dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands to go to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit earlier this month. The meeting is just a meeting for a meeting's sake: Abe doesn't want Japan's row to interfere with his master plan to extend the tenure of the LDP regime. Xi had to comply, because he made Abe's admission a sine qua non for the face-to-face talks.