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*Abe to reshuffle Cabinet, ruling party leadership* TOKYO, Aug. 26 KYODO Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to reshuffle his Cabinet and the executive members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday, following the crushing defeat his party suffered in the July upper house election. The revamped Cabinet is expected to be launched officially Monday evening after an attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace. As expected, Foreign Minister Taro Aso has accepted an offer by Abe on Sunday to become LDP secretary general, informed sources said. Tetsuzo Fuyushiba is tipped to retain his post as land, infrastructure and transport minister. Abe is believed to have made the final groundwork Sunday for the reshuffle, eying the appointments of veteran LDP lawmakers such as former foreign ministers Nobutaka Machimura and Masahiko Komura and LDP policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa, sources close to the matter said. Abe is expected to appoint to the Cabinet people capable of handling the pension recordkeeping blunders and measures to make campaign funding by politicians more transparent. Both issues are thought to have been factors behind the LDP's defeat in the July 29 House of Councillors election that left the party and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, in a minority in the upper chamber. Abe stayed at his official residence on Sunday, except for an outing to get a haircut at a hotel in Tokyo, after returning the previous day from a weeklong trip to *Indonesia*, India and Malaysia. On Monday morning, Abe is expected to summon people for three key posts in the new LDP leadership at the party headquarters and ask them to take the positions. The new LDP leadership is expected to be approved at an extraordinary meeting of the party's General Council to be convened at 10 a.m. The three posts are secretary general, Policy Research Council chairman and General Council chairman. To change the Cabinet lineup, Abe is expected to convene a meeting of current ministers by around 1 p.m. so that they can submit their resignations. After holding talks with Akihiro Ota, head of New Komeito, Abe is expected to start summoning his intended new Cabinet members. Former Foreign Minister Machimura, who is widely tipped to be given a key post, said Sunday in Ebetsu, Hokkaido, ''At this moment, I have not even received one phone call. No matter what position I may have, I will do my best to support Prime Minister Abe and move Japanese politics in the right direction.'' ==Kyodo [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
