Kishida made the announcement at a press conference on Monday after he was elected as Japan’s 100th prime minister.

Kishida said he will dissolve Japan’s House of Representative on October 14 to pave the way for an early general election on October 31.

The election campaign will begin on October 19.

Kishida has vowed to draw up an economic package worth "tens of trillions of yen" within the year to deal with COVID-19, and said he is considering cash handouts to people hit particularly hard by the pandemic.