Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party named Fumio Kishida as its next leader. Reuters reported that Fumio Kishida, the former Foreign Affairs Minister, has been replaced as the next leader after Yoshihide Suga. The decision implies that in the course of a few days, he will become the next Prime Minister of Japan.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced on September 3 that he will not run for the re-election of LDP leader. The decision came after he received extensive criticism for the handling of the covid-19 crisis in the country. There was a big surge of cases in Japan and the country faced the worst covid-19 wave. He just completed 1 year of tenure in his office after stepping up when PM Shinzo Abe resigned citing his health issues.
Reportedly, Fumio Kishida enjoys reasonable public support in the country. He has considerable support from the senior leaders who backed him in the race for LDP leader. In the party elections to become the leader of LDP, his biggest competitor was Administrative Reform Minister, Taro Kono. Taro Kono was in charge of the covid-19 vaccine rollout in Japan.
As per CNN, In the initial round of voting, neither of the four contestants gained a majority. In the following round, Fumio Kishida won 257 votes and Kono got 170 votes. Kishida shall take over the Prime Minister of Japan on a Parliamentary session scheduled for Monday before the national polls In November.
With the Appointment of Kishida as PM, the government under him will target to attain economic growth and distribution of wealth.
He even said that he shall work as the PM of Japan at full speed according to CNN. He promised to spend billions of dollars to develop the country’s economy and restore the impact of the covid-19 restriction on the economy.
Fumio Kishida served as Foreign Minister from 2012-2017 in the Japanese government under Shinzo Abe. Kishida had criticized the economic policies of Shinzo Abe when the richest of the country were adding more to their wealth. The decision of not contesting elections by Yoshihide Suga came after his support ratings had gone below 30%. The Liberal Democratic Party enjoys a majority in the lower houses of parliament in Japan and its coalition in government shall not lose the majority. Still, the reduced popularity of Suga can be a challenge for the Party and the next PM.
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