Japan’s ruling party plans on Sept. 14 to vote on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s replacement, an official confirmed yesterday, as Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga formally announced his bid to become the country’s next prime minister, with growing party support making him the race’s clear favorite.
A vote in parliament — expected to endorse the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) new leader — is likely to follow on Sept. 16.
The new prime minister will face a raft of challenges, from the COVID-19 pandemic to a tanking economy, as well as ensuring that the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games can go ahead.
Photo: Reuters
Key LDP factions have already thrown their support behind Suga, who pledged to “do my utmost to continue the work of party leader Abe, who poured his spirit and strength into the job.”
Two other candidates, former Japanese minister of defense Shigeru Ishiba and LDP Policy Research Council chairman Fumio Kishida, have so far announced plans to stand.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving leader, kicked off the race when he said last week that he would step down over health problems.
The LDP has opted for a scaled-back vote that would not include rank-and-file members.
Instead, only its lawmakers and three representatives from each of the country’s 47 prefectures are to vote.
The decision has elicited some criticism, but party officials said that it would take too long to organize a broader vote.
Experts said the format favors Suga, 71, who has built an effectively insurmountable lead in the race already.
His selection “is increasingly assured, as the LDP’s factions — with the exception of the factions headed by rival candidates Shigeru Ishiba and Fumio Kishida — have lined up behind Suga,” Tobias Harris, a Japan expert at Teneo consultancy, said in a note.
Suga has held his key post for years — coordinating policy among ministries and agencies, and serving as the effective face of the government as its chief spokesman.
Considered a pragmatic politician, he is a close Abe adviser who encouraged the prime minister to run again after a disastrous first term in office ended after just a year in 2007.
Kishida, 63, a former foreign minister, was previously considered Abe’s favored successor, but the outgoing prime minister has said that he would not endorse a candidate, and Kishida’s limited public profile is likely to leave him struggling to challenge the likes of Suga.
Ishiba, 63, polls well with the general public, but is less popular among party members.
He once left the LDP — spending time as an independent and briefly joining another party — and many within the ruling bloc have not forgiven the political dalliance.
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