Japan’s Prime Minister resigns due to health issue
Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has resigned due to his non-curable health condition and remain in office until a successor is chosen.
While making the announcement on Friday August 28, 2020, at a press conference in Tokyo, Abe said even though there is one year to go in his tenure and there are challenges to be met, he has decided to stand down as prime minister.”
Abe apologized to the people of Japan for his resignation and failure to perform fully serve them especially at a critical time when coronavirus is waging a tough war against the world.
Abe’s resignation was due to his bowel disease called colitis, an inflammatory disease.
His decision to resign came after his second visit in a week to Keio University Hospital in Tokyo on Monday morning.
Meanwhile, Abe had before resigned from office in 2017 after he had spent more than one year during his first term as the Prime Minister as a result of the health condition he had suffered.
“For almost eight years I controlled my chronic disease, however, this year in June I had a regular check-up and there was a sign of the disease,” he said.
“I made a judgment that I should not continue my job as prime minister. I need to fight the disease and need to be treated,” said Abe.
In 2012, Abe was reelected as Prime Minister and he has since then dominated the Japanese politics.
Likewise, in 2017, he won his third term in a landslide victory even though at that time Abe’s popularity had begun to plummet.
As the Prime Minister, Abe wielded too much influence for his party, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which saw major success following the fracture of the Democratic Party, its long-term rival that split in 2017.
Liberal Democratic Party would now under the control of the parliament, both the upper and the lower House of Representatives, which has a large majority, as Abe leaves office.
Friday’s announcement has had a negative trace on Japan’s market as its price-weighted index, the Nikkei, closed down by 1.4% on Friday having initially suffered a 2% loss. However, Japan’s traditional currency, Japanese yen rose against the US dollar bby 0.3%.
