Tokyo, Sept.14, (dpa/GNA) – Yoshihide Suga was elected leader of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Monday, paving the way for him to become the country’s next prime minister.
Japanese government spokesman Suga, 71, secured an overwhelming victory over two rivals – former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba and former foreign minister Fumio Kishida – in the intra-party race as he was endorsed by five factions.
In a vote at a meeting of LDP lawmakers in Tokyo, Suga won 377 votes, Kishida 89 and Ishiba 68, the party announced.
One of the reasons why Suga garnered so many votes was that he was from the countryside, he told a news conference.
Suga was the eldest son of a farming family in the northern prefecture of Akita, he said.
“I’m well versed in situations in outlying regions,” he added to explain why people voted for him.
Soon after the vote, Suga pledged to promote deregulation and eliminate bureaucratic red tape in the country.
“I will create a cabinet that works for the people,” said Suga, who has served as chief cabinet secretary for more than seven years under outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Abe announced in late August that he was stepping down for health reasons.
Suga is mostly likely to be nominated to succeed Abe at an extraordinary parliamentary session on Wednesday as the LDP controls the powerful lower house.
He promised to take over Abe’s policies, including his “Abenomics” economic policy.
Suga has said Japan is facing an “unprecedented national crisis,” referring to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He vowed to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus while protecting jobs and restoring Japan’s economy, the world’s third-largest, which has been devastated by the pandemic.
The economy shrank a record annualized 28.1 per cent in the April-to-June period, marking the third straight quarterly contraction.
On the diplomatic front, Japan’s new prime minister will face China’s military build-up, the North Korean nuclear and missile threat and a territorial dispute with Russia.
In August, Abe was diagnosed with a recurrence of an intestinal illness called ulcerative colitis.
In July 2007, the disease forced Abe to abruptly quit as prime minister only one year into the job. He returned to power in 2012.
GNA