TOKYO: Yoshihide Suga has been elected leader of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), paving the way for him to become the country’s next prime minister.
As expected, Suga easily won Monday’s internal vote to pick a successor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced in August he would step down due to health problems.
Currently the chief cabinet secretary, Suga took 377 of a total of 534 votes against the two other contenders, former Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.
Given the LDP’s legislative majority Suga is expected to handily win a parliamentary vote on Wednesday.
A powerful government adviser and spokesman, 71-year-old Suga is seen as promising stability and a continuation of Abe’s policies.
Suga has said has said he would continue Abe’s signature `Abenomics’ strategy of hyper-easy monetary policy, government spending and reforms while juggling the problems of Covid-19 and a slumping economy, and confronting longer-term issues such as Japan’s ageing population and low birth rate.