Abe’s aide- spokesman Suga is frontrunner as next Japan PM
Tokyo, Sept. 2: Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, a longtime loyal assistant and the public face of outgoing PM Shinzo Abe in daily media briefings, has emerged as a favourite to succeed him in an upcoming internal party vote.
Mr Suga formally announced his candidacy Wednesday, pledging “to succeed policies that Prime Minister Abe has devoted his body and soul and to push them forward”. He said that he, as a politician who worked with Mr Abe, decided to run to take over the Prime Minister’s unfinished work.
Mr Abe, who has had ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager, last week announced he would resign after setting a record of 2,799 consecutive days in office.
A member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party
who doesn’t belong to any faction, Mr Suga has been approached by leaders of other party wings as someone who can ensure the continuation of Mr Abe’s policies, including strengthening Japan’s security alliance with the United States, dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and shoring up the economy.
Party executives decided to hold an internal vote on September 14 to pick a new leader, who will then become the Prime Minister after winning parliamentary approval two days later with the ruling side’s majority.
He has earned a reputation for his matter- of- fact twice- daily televised media briefings. He’s become known as “Uncle Reiwa” after he was tasked with unveiling the new imperial era name for Emperor Naruhito last year.
The son of a strawberry grower in the northern prefecture of Akita, Mr Suga is a self- made politician, a rarity in Japan’s largely hereditary business of politics. He earned his own tuition while working several part- time jobs to graduate from a university in Tokyo.
The next PM will finish the rest of Mr Abe’s term, until September 2021.
Two younger contenders, former foreign minister Fumio Kishida and former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, on Tuesday also expressed their intention to stand for the post.