Japan's Parliament is on track to formalize Fumio Kishida as the new prime minister after the Cabinet and leader Yoshihide Suga resigned. Kishida faces pressing pandemic and security challenges ahead of an upcoming national election.
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leader Fumio Kishida arrives at the party's headquarters in Tokyo Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. Japan's Cabinet and leader Yoshihide Suga resigned Monday, paving the way for Parliament to elect Kishida as the new prime minister, tasked with quickly tackling the pandemic and security challenges before an imminent national election.
Suga leaves after only one year in office after seeing his support plunge over his government’s handling of the pandemic and insistence on holding the Olympics as the virus spread. Kishida supports stronger Japan-U.S. security ties and partnerships with other like-minded democracies in Asia, Europe and Britain, in part to counter China and nuclear-armed North Korea.
An urgent task at home will be turning around his party’s sagging popularity, hurt by Suga’s perceived high-handedness on the pandemic and other issues. Kishida is expected to make a policy speech later this week before dissolving the lower house of Parliament ahead of the general election expected by mid-November.
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