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Japan PM Yoshihide Suga to resign after just 1 year in post

  • The shock announcement comes with Suga’s approval ratings at an all-time low over his government’s handling of its coronavirus response
  • He had been widely expected to seek re-election as LDP leader in a vote set for September 29 and had dropped no hints of his plans to leave office

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Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pictured at a news conference on Japan's response to the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this summer. Photo: Reuters
Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Friday he will not run for re-election as party leader this month, effectively ending his tenure after just one year.
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He told a news conference in Tokyo that he will not run for leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party later this month. Whoever becomes the next LDP leader is virtually assured of becoming prime minister thanks to the party’s dominance in parliament.

“Since I became prime minister a year ago, dealing with coronavirus has been at the centre of my efforts,” Suga told reporters in a brief statement without taking questions. “Dealing with the virus while campaigning for the election would take a huge amount of energy. I realised I couldn’t do both and I should choose one.”

The shock announcement comes with Suga’s approval ratings at an all-time low over his government’s handling of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But it was a decision that had not been foreshadowed, with Suga dropping no hints of his plans to leave office after just a single year in power and before contesting his first general election.

“To be honest, I’m surprised,” LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai told reporters earlier on Friday. “But I believe he came to this decision after thinking about it deeply.”

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Suga came to office last year, stepping into the post left empty when Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe resigned for health reasons.
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