Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s right-hand man, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, is the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He will be primed as the next Prime Minister of Japan.
Per Bloomberg, Yoshihide Suga just got the favor of the “overwhelming majority” from the ruling LDP. With this party having an uninterrupted governing in Japan since 1955, its “parliamentary majority” will be used to set Suga’s path as the next Prime Minister.
Micky News previously reported that the current Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has decided to step down due to health concerns. Nonetheless, one of the leading potential candidates was none other than his right-man, Yoshihide Suga.
Suga to continue Abe’s legacy
The same publication quotes Yoshihide Suga’s statement recently, expressing:
“Amid the national crisis of the spreading coronavirus, we must not allow a political vacuum. To make sure everyone in the country can feel reassured and live a stable life, we need to continue with Prime Minister Abe’s efforts.”
Suga, as the next Prime Minister, is reportedly set in stone as the “LDP-controlled lower and upper houses” officially vote on his appointment this Wednesday, per The Guardian.
Furthermore, The Guardian reports that analysts believe Suga benefited largely from the “controversial decision to limit votes to MPs and local chapter delegates.” Also excluding “more than 1 million rank-and-file members,” whom mostly favored Shigeru Ishiba.
Former Defense Minister Ishiba was initially leading the polls. In the end, he received only 68 votes during the Monday voting.
Bloomberg did highlight that Ishiba was a “frank” critic of Abe’s administration.
Who is Yoshihide Suga?
Suga has been the “public face of the Abe administration” for nearly eight years now. Since 2012, when Abe started as Japan’s PM, his and Suga’s careers “have been tied,” per CNN.
Despite being close all these years, Abe and Suga can be very different “stylistically.” While Abe is a descendant of prominent political dynasties, Suga is a son of a strawberry farmer in the rural area of northern Japan.
The 71-year-old had a tougher life, as he “grew up in the rural Akita prefecture.” He took different “odd jobs” to save up money for university. Moreover, he was a working-student all the while in college.
CNN further narrates that Suga’s political career started when he ran as a city councilor in Yokohama. What he lacked in political connections and experience, he made up for with hard work.
He personally campaigned door-to-door to roughly 300 households a day. By the end of the election, he had already “worn out six pairs of shoes.”
Suga played a very important role as PM Abe rolled out his economic policies dubbed as “Abenomics.”
Featured image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons