Once seemingly unassailable, Abe is now dogged by plunging polls and allegations of giving favours to two school operators.

Shinzo Abe is fighting for his future as Japan’s prime minister as scandals drag his government’s popularity close to what political observers describe as “death zone” levels.

Apart from clouding Abe’s hopes of winning another term as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) when a vote is held next year, the polling slump also undermines his long-running push to revise Japan’s war-renouncing constitution.

“He is no longer invincible and the reason why he is no longer invincible is he served his personal friends not the party,” said Michael Thomas Cucek, an adjunct professor at Temple University Japan.

The first scandal centred on a cut-price land deal between the finance ministry and a nationalist school group known as Moritomo Gakuen.

The second related to the approval of a veterinary department of a private university headed by his friend, Kotaro Kake.

Abe has repeatedly denied personal involvement, but polls showed voters doubted his explanations, especially after leaked education ministry documents mentioned the involvement of “a top-level official of the prime minister’s office” in the vet school story.

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