Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, is to step down due to ill health.
Abe made the announcement last week saying that he would remain in his post until a successor has been chosen. Abe suffers from ulcerative colitis, a condition which causes inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum.
Abe said in a press conference in Tokyo: ‘If I can’t discharge my responsibility to the people of this country with confidence . . . I should not continue as prime minister.’
Abe, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has been Prime Minister since 2012 – he holds the record for having held the position the longest. This is his second term as Prime Minister, having previously served in the position in 2005 and 2006. Abe has not announced a preferred successor although it is speculated that the LDP’s head of policy, Kishida Fumio, would receive Abe’s backing.
According to the Economist, aides to Abe had previously admitted that the stress of managing the country during the Covid-19 pandemic had taken a significant toll.
The newspaper also noted that whoever succeeds Abe ‘will inherit immense problems: gargantuan public debt, a shrinking population and an economy that has been limping along for decades.’
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