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Of: TT
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Photo: Eugene Hoshiko / AP / TT
Yoshihide Suga, Minister with Coordination Responsibility, during a press conference in Tokyo in September last year.
The battle escalates over who will succeed Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced his resignation on Friday for health reasons.
The influential 71-year-old member of the government, Yoshihide Suga, has previously denied that he was interested in the position. But now he has decided to run in the leadership elections of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a source told the Kyodo news agency.
The election is scheduled for mid-September. Most likely, the winner will also be the new prime minister, as the PLD has its own majority in parliament.
According to Kyodo data, Suga is considered fit for the job due to his experience dealing with crises as a member of the government, such as the corona pandemic and a lame economy.
Suga was carefully chosen in 2012 by Abe for a leading role in which he is the government’s highest spokesperson and is responsible for coordinating its policies.
His rivals to succeed Abe include former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
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