Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Friday he would step down, setting the stage for a new premier after a one-year tenure marred by an unpopular COVID-19 response and rapidly dwindling public support.
Suga, who took over after Shinzo Abe resigned last September, citing ill health, has seen his support ratings sink to below 30% as the nation struggles with its worst wave of COVID-19 infections ahead of a general election this year.
Suga’s decision on Friday to not run in a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) election in September means the party will choose a new leader, who will become prime minister.
Before Abe – Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, with an eight-year tenure – the country had gone through six prime ministers in as many years, including Abe’s own troubled first one-year tenure.
Japan’s Nikkei average futures jumped 2% immediately after media reports that Suga would not run, while the broader Topix Index extended its gains and hit its highest levels since 1991 following the news.
“I want to focus on coronavirus response, so I told the LDP executive meeting that I’ve decided not to run in the party leadership race,” Suga told reporters.
“There’s immense energy needed to tackle both coronavirus response and preparation for the leadership race,” he added. “I judged that I cannot juggle both and I should concentrate on either of them.”
Suga addressed a scrum of journalists for less than two minutes at his office and left the venue amid shouts for more explanation. He said he would hold a news conference as early as next week.
The address ended a rollercoaster week in which Suga pulled out all the stops to save his job, from suggestions he would sack his long-term ally as party secretary general, to plans to call a snap election and reshuffle party executive and his cabinet.
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