New National Stadium (Tokyo) in athletics mode with the ability to construct temporary seating over the permanent track to create an increased capacity of 80,016. Capacity during the Olympic Games will be 60,102 taking into account press and executive seating areas. This capacity is further lessened for the Paralympics to 57,750 to add more handicap accessible seating. New National Stadium (Tokyo) Demolition of old National Stadium was completed in May 2015, then the construction of new stadium began at the same site on 11 December 2016. The original plans for the new stadium were scrapped in July 2015 by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
2014 Japanese general election re-appointed). The turnout in this election is the lowest in Japanese history. In 2012, the Democratic Party government under Yoshihiko Noda decided to implement a raise of the Japanese consumption tax. Following this move, the Liberal Democratic Party under Shinzo Abe regained control of the Japanese government in the December 2012 general election. Abe proceeded to implement a series of economic programs known as "Abenomics" in a bid to stimulate the economy. Despite these programs, Japan entered a technical recession in mid-2014, which Abe blamed on the consumption tax hike, even though many members of the LDP supported the hike.