Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a press conference on Friday announced that he is stepping down, citing his declining health.
“I will not be able to make proper judgements due to illness,” Abe said, adding that he has asked officials of the LDP to pick his successor quickly.
Abe will serve as the interim prime minister until the next leader is chosen.
This isn’t the first time Abe is stepping down from premiership. He stepped down after serving the country for a year in 2007, citing health reasons. Abe has been suffering from ulcerative colitis since his teens. It is said to have worsened recently, with Abe vomiting blood in early July.
And while Abe said that the new medicines he has been taking have shown efficacy, he did not want his judgment to be impaired while holding such an important position when the country is fighting the invisible enemy—COVID-19.
The decision has come as a shock to many, including his close aides. On August 24, Abe became the longest-serving prime minister in Japan by the number of consecutive days in office, eclipsing the previous record of 2,798 days held by his great-uncle Eisaku Sato.
His administration came under criticism after distribution of washable cloth masks, which were seen to be too small and arrived too late.
The masks became known as “Abenomask,” which means “Abe's mask” in Japanese, and are a pun on his touted “Abenomics” economic policy package that calls for bold monetary easing by the Bank of Japan, generous fiscal spending and deregulations to spur economic growth.
Abe indicated that he regretted not having solved the case of North Koreans kidnapping Japanese citizens that took place between 1977 to 1983. Abe expressed his thanks to the people of Japan and said he was sorry for stepping down even though he had one more year in his term. He went on to assure that completion of the other milestones would be done as it was a commitment the Liberal Democratic Party made to the people of Japan. He also said he wanted Japan to be a forward-looking society.
Abe did not comment on who should be his successor, even as reporters present at the conference threw names like Minister of Finance Taro Also, Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former foreign minister Fumio Kishida and asked him his opinion of them.
He further said that the party already has some plans made for the upcoming influenza season and he is confident that his successor will be able to implement them efficiently.
