The Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Shinzo Abe decided to resign on the 28th of August 2020. The 65-year-old has been the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan surpassing his great uncle late Mr. Eisaku Sato. The reason for resignation is a medical ailment termed as ulcerative colitis which happens to be an inflammatory bowel disease. Mr. Abe suffered with this chronic medical condition since childhood, however, his condition deteriorated recently.
The Prime Minister served his 2799th day as the PM on 24th August 2020 which marked his tenure as the longest-serving Prime Minister. Now the Liberal Democratic Party is expected to select an immediate successor to complete the tenure till September 2021 until the next elections.
Potential successors have already emerged, including Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, and LDP policy chief Fumio Kishida, who is speculated to be Mr. Abe’s choice.
The Prime Minister is expected to continue his duties until a successor is selected. He expressed regret in what is considered as his farewell speech for being unable to fulfill his core pledges – sorting out a territorial dispute with Russia; forcing North Korea to return Japanese citizens abducted decades ago and overhauling the constitution to give more power to the military. He was famous for his ‘Abenomics’ which was his aggressive economic policy for stimulating growth.
He has served the position for four terms and was first elected in 2006 at the age of 52 making him the youngest prime minster to be ever elected since 1941. The term lasted till 2007 whereas the next term lasted from 2012-2014 . He had a consecutive win giving him another term of 2014-2017 and the 2017 elections were won by him for the second consecutive time increasing his term from 2017-2021. Most importantly during his tenure the relations between India and Japan were made deeper and stronger.
On the announcement of Mr. Abe’s resignation, our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi took to Twitter to express his grief on Mr. Abe’s health and also remembered and thanked him for his cooperation in strengthening the ties between the two nations.
