Japan’s Prime minister Shinzo Abe announced his resignation due to health reasons

Japan’s ruling party will elect Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s successor on 15 September. This information was given by the Kyodo News Agency on Saturday. Earlier on Friday, the Prime Minister announced his resignation from his post due to health reasons. The president of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party has been given a virtual assurance to be given the post of Prime Minister. The reason for this is the LDP(Liberal Democratic Party) got a majority in the lower house of Parliament.

Abe announced his resignation at a press conference. However, he refused to nominate any of his successors. Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida lead the race for Prime Minister. While Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and Defense Minister Taro Kono are also being considered as potential candidates.

According to Kyodo, Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, who has been Abe’s finance minister along with the former prime minister, says he does not want to be the successor of Abe. Abe said the LDP leadership would set the party’s deadline. He believes that until a successor is chosen, his health will remain intact.

Abe, 65 years old, has been battling stomach disease named Ulcerative colitis for a long time. He has visited the hospital twice this month on 17th and 24th August. Since then, there was a discussion in the Japanese media about his health.

According to local media, Abe did not want to affect the functioning of the government due to his health. That is why he announced his resignation from a press conference on Friday. In the month of August itself, Abe has completed seven years and six months as Prime Minister.

His term is till September 2021. On Monday, Abe completed 8 years in his office and became the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan. In recent times, his popularity has also decreased by about 30 percent during pandemic Covid-19. His party is battling many scams these days. The 65-year-old Abe had promised to bring the country’s economy back on track. Seeing the threat of China, Abe was also trying to strengthen the Japanese army.