Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Friday that he would resign, finishing his record term in an explosive that is starting a run for leadership in the world’s third-largest economy.
Abe said he was suffering from a recurrence of ulcerative colitis that forced him to shorten a first term and said he no longer felt able to remain prime minister.
“There won’t have to be a time when I can’t give results,” he said, speaking in a quiet but dark voice.
“Now that I am not in a position to satisfy the mandate of other people with confidence, I no longer have to hold the position of prime minister.”
While the hypothesis about Abe’s long political career has multiplied in recent weeks, after he twice visited the hospital for unspecified fitness checks, resignation came as a surprise.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has faced a growing hypothesis about his fitness in weeks Photo: AFP/Kazuhiro NOGI
Even as recently as Friday morning, the government spokesman gave the impression of dismissing considerations about Abe’s fitness and warned that he would remain in office.
But Abe said that would not be imaginable and apologized for postponing his mandate again.
“I would like to sincerely apologize to the other Japanese people for leaving my post with one year left of my term of office, and amid the disorders of the coronavirus, while the policies are still being implemented,” he said, leaning deeply.
Profile of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Photo: AFP / Janis LATVELS
Abe said he will “be firmly in my duty to the end” and until the next prime minister is appointed, a procedure that requires a leadership election involving legislators and members of the ruling party.
The resignation surprised the markets, with Tokyo’s stock falling by more than 2% towards the end of the afternoon, when news of Abe’s resolution first appeared.
“It’s a big surprise,” said Shinichi Nishikawa, a professor of political science at Meiji University in Tokyo.
“His resignation comes at a time when Japan faces sensitive problems, and adds measures contrary to coronavirus,” Nishikawa told the AFP.
“There would possibly be political confusion.”
Abe hoped to remain in the workplace until the end of his tenure as LDP leader in September 2021, and the search for a successor is still in his infancy.
Explosive resolution puts an end to Abe’s mandate and launches a race to succeed him Photo: AFP / CHARLY TRIBALLEAU
However, some successors have already emerged, such as Finance Minister Taro Aso, Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, and LDP political leader Fumio Kishida.
Kishida is rumored to be Abe’s non-public option, while Aso commands one of the toughest blocs of the ruling coalition.
It is noted that most possible successors are particularly breaking with Abe’s policies.
Abe refused to be elected over who would like to see in the highest office, saying that he had “no intention” of influencing the election and that those who ran as candidates were all “very capable.”
Experts said the electoral procedure deserves to take a position in the coming weeks, with a new parliamentary consultation imaginable until October.
Abe’s resolution to resign will be bitterly familiar to the guy who was forced to resign only a year after adjusting to the country’s youngest prime minister.
Since then he has become Japan’s most years of service prime minister, related to economic policy aimed at reviving the country’s economy that bears his name: Abenomics.
He said his legacy would be in the hands of others to decide, but under pressure in his efforts to bring Barack Obama to Hiroshima, making him the first existing U.S. president at the site of the atomic bombing, one of his proudest achievements.
One of his biggest disappointments, he said, was his inability to bring home the Abducted Japanese in North Korea decades ago.
In recent months, Abe has faced a drop in approval rates with complaints of his handling of the coronavirus crisis, adding U-turn to stimulus measures and a widely mocked policy of delivering cloth masks to each and every household.
He also saw the effects of Abenomics begin to fade, with the economy sinking into recession earlier this year, even before the coronavirus crisis hit.
mis-hih-si/sah/mtp