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A party official stated Friday that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will not contest for the leadership of his ruling party, signalling that he will step down at the end of this month.
Toshihiro Nikai, the secretary general of Suga’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, told reporters on Friday that he will not participate in the Sept. 29 leadership election.
Because the LDP holds a majority in Parliament, whoever is elected as the party’s leader will most likely lead the new government.
The move is primarily a political one, with the goal of giving the LDP a new leader before the national elections later this year. The lower house’s term ends in late October, and new Parliament elections must be held by the end of November.
Suga has been chastised and his approval ratings have plummeted as a result of sluggish coronavirus efforts and the Olympics being held despite public health fears.
After his predecessor Shinzo Abe resigned owing to health concerns, Suga took office in mid-September last year.
Because he was a leader from the common people, rather than blue-blood political families like Abe, Suga, the son of a strawberry farmer from Japan’s northern prefecture of Akita, received approval ratings as high as 70% early in his term.
Suga took a number of practical initiatives, such as digital transformation and administrative reforms, but his popularity swiftly dwindled as a result of his viral measures, which were considered as too slow and ineffective to prevent expanding outbreaks. Support ratings have dropped to roughly 26% according to recent media polls.
