With Abe Shinzo’s announced resignation as Prime Minister of Japan due to failing health, his closest advisor over the past years, Suga Yoshihide, the Chief Cabinet Officer for the past eight years, announced today that he will compete to be the next Prime Minister and LDP chief. Two other leading candidates, Kishida Fumio and Ishiba Shigeru, announced earlier.
Kishida is the former Foreign Minister who now heads the LDP policy committee, while Ishiba is a conservative militarist who is popular in the population but is not popular in the LDP leadership, in part because he was critical of Abe and stood against him in the last election.
Suga’s announcement was accompanied by his direct appeal to one of the two critical senior men of the party, LDP Secretary General Nikai Toshihiro (the other is Deputy Prime Minister Aso Taro), whose support is crucial to win the post.
