Advertisement
Opinion | What now for Japan, as Suga steps down as prime minister?
- Shinzo Abe, the country’s longest-serving PM, was always going to be a tough act to follow, and Yoshihide Suga seems to think the job was too big for him
- With his rapid departure, Japan may be facing a return to leadership instability
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
After less than a year in office, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced last Friday that he would not seek re-election as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. When his term as party leader ends on September 30, his short yet turbulent stint as prime minister will also come to a close.
Advertisement
In his first months in office, he had enjoyed approval ratings as high as 65 per cent. However, his popularity began to decline late last year, before reaching a nadir of 29 per cent during the recent Tokyo Olympics.
Suga’s handling of the ill-fated “Go To Travel” campaign, which he inherited from predecessor Shinzo Abe and which was meant to kick-start the pandemic-ravaged economy, was widely scrutinised. Amid signs of a correlation between rising Covid-19 cases and domestic travel, Suga was forced to suspend the campaign in mid-December, after barely three months in office.
Prior to that announcement, medical experts had already identified a third wave of infections and urged Suga to act. That he took days to concede their point exposed him to early accusations of indecisiveness.
These would grow louder as the Covid-19 situation worsened. Japan topped 25,000 daily cases for the first time last month.
02:22
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to step down
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to step down
In addition to the pandemic, a series of scandals also left the prime minister increasingly vulnerable. LDP lawmakers were involved in vote-buying scandals, and Suga’s son was reported to have wined and dined bureaucrats.
Advertisement