Japan's Yoshihide Suga Steps Down, Setting Stage For New Prime Minister
NDTV
Yoshihide Suga set the stage for a new premier after a one-year tenure marred by an unpopular COVID-19 response and rapidly dwindling public support.
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.More Related News