Japan`s Yoshihide Suga, a long-time ally of outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, won a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election on Monday, paving the way for him to become prime minister in a parliamentary vote this week.
Japan`s Yoshihide Suga, a long-time ally of outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, won a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election on Monday, paving the way for him to become prime minister in a parliamentary vote this week.
Suga, 71, who served in the powerful post of chief cabinet secretary during Abe`s nearly eight-year tenure, has said he will pursue his predecessor`s "Abenomics" recipe of hyper-easy monetary policy, government spending, and reform and follow a diplomatic line centered on the U.S.-Japan security alliance.
The 71-year-old was elected at a joint plenary meeting of party members from both houses of the Diet (Parliament) and delegates from local chapters earlier in the day, reports Xinhua news agency.
At the meeting, Suga won 377 votes while the other two contenders, LDP policy chief Fumio Kishida and former Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba garnered 89 and 68 votes, respectively.
In the scaled-down vote, 394 Diet members cast their ballots. A total of 141 votes were cast by three delegates each from the country`s 47 prefectural chapters.
Under normal circumstances, the top leader of the LDP would be chosen with Diet members belonging to the party and rank-and-file members holding 394 votes each.
Suga is now expected to win a vote at an extraordinary Diet session on Wednesday to become the new Prime Minister.
The winner of the LDP race is virtually certain to be elected prime minister in a parliamentary vote on Wednesday because of the LDP`s majority in the lower house. He will serve out Abe`s term as party leader through September 2021.
Abe, Japan`s longest-serving premier, said last month he would quit due to ill health, ending a nearly eight-year term.
Suga, whose resume is thin on diplomatic experience, faces geopolitical challenges such as building ties with the winner of the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election and balancing concern over China`s maritime aggressiveness with bilateral economic interdependence.
Speculation is simmering that Suga will call a snap election for parliament`s lower house as soon as next month to boost his chances of winning a full three-year term as LDP chief next year. A vote for the lower chamber must be held by late October 2021.
Suga, the son of a strawberry farmer from northern Japan who got his start in politics as a local assemblyman, has since 2012 held the key post of chief cabinet secretary, acting as Abe`s top government spokesman, coordinating policies and keeping bureaucrats in line.
He has the image as more of a behind-the-scenes operator than a frontline leader but rose in opinion polls after he announced his candidacy to succeed Abe. He won support from most LDP factions, outpacing his rivals including former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba and ex-foreign minister Fumio Kishida.
(With agency inputs)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Japan, Yoshihide Suga, Chief Cabinet Secretary, Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}