Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga to resign after surge in Covid cases
Move follows criticism over hosting of Olympics and response to coronavirus outbreaks
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Your support makes all the difference.Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, is to step down after struggling to contain surging Covid-19 cases in the country.
Party sources told the Kyodo news agency he would not stand in a party leadership race in September, ahead of a general election slated for the following month.
He would have been all but assured of becoming prime minister for a second term because of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s majority in Japan’s lower house.
Mr Suga’s unexpected departure sets the stage for a replacement PM after just one year in office, and comes after a summer in which the eyes of the world were on Japan as it hosted the Olympics and Paralympics.
Japan’s government has faced criticism from the public for hosting the games during a pandemic.
Mr Suga took over from Shinzo Abe last September after the former PM announced he was stepping aside due to ill health.
The incumbent's approval ratings have sunk below 30 per cent amid rising infection rates as the nation struggles with its worst wave of coronavirus infections. His actions to slow the spread of the virus were criticised as too slow and too small.
The contest to find his replacement will be held on 29 September and the government is considering holding a general election on 17 October.
Announcing his departure on Friday, Mr Suga said he wanted to focus on measures to tackle the pandemic rather than an electoral battle.
“Running in the race and handling coronavirus countermeasures would have required an enormous amount of energy,” he told reporters.
The move was largely a political one to allow his party to have a fresh leader untainted by the summer’s Covid surge before the elections.
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