This archive report was first published on 3 September 2021.
Published on September 3, 2021, just under a year after becoming Japan's prime minister, Yoshihide Suga announced his decision not to seek re-election as chief of the governing Liberal Democratic Party. This move comes as a surprise, given his historically unpopular tenure.
At 72 years old, Suga assumed the prime ministership after Shinzo Abe's resignation in August 2020 due to ill health. Suga, the son of a strawberry farmer and a schoolteacher from rural Japan, had been a behind-the-scenes operator and often appeared uncomfortable as a public-facing leader.
His early departure threatens to return Japan to the leadership instability that marked the period before Abe's nearly eight consecutive years in power. During that time, the country experienced six prime ministers in six years, including Abe himself in an earlier stint.
As the country grappled with its worst wave of the coronavirus, Suga's leadership was dogged by plunging approval ratings amid public dissatisfaction with his administration's handling of the pandemic and the Olympics.
When rival Fumio Kishida, former Foreign Minister, announced his candidacy for the party leadership, rumors circulated that Suga might dissolve Parliament early and call a general election in a last-ditch effort to retain his position. However, with coronavirus cases hitting record highs and hospitals turning away patients, Suga apparently decided he had no viable path.
According to Toshihiro Nikai, secretary general of the Liberal Democrats, Suga informed him that he would not run for party president in the leadership election, instead focusing on preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
The race to replace Suga in the September 29 vote for leader of the Liberal Democrats appears relatively open, with Kishida as the only declared candidate so far. The winner of the party leadership race will be the heavy favorite to become prime minister after a general election that must be held by late next month.
