Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga expressed his intention to resign Friday amid mounting criticism over his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Suga, has said he will not run for re-election as party leader this month, signaling the end of his tenure. Suga had been appointed to the role just a year ago following the resignation of Shinzo Abe. The shock announcement comes as Suga's approval ratings dropped to an all-time low. The development came just under a year after Suga took office and as his ruling Liberal Democratic Party prepares to hold its presidential election on Sept. 29, with campaigning starting on Sept. 17. "I had planned to run, but dealing with both COVID-19 and the election would require an enormous amount of energy. I decided that there was no way to do both, that I had to choose," Suga told reporters, adding, "I decided to focus on coronavirus measures." Suga was quoted by a participant at an extraordinary meeting of LDP executives held earlier in the day, as saying he will serve out his term through Sept. 30. A source at the prime minister's office said Suga hit a snag in his plans to reshuffle the party's executives, which he hoped to carry out on Monday. Facing low public support, Suga has been planning to reshuffle party executives as well as his Cabinet lineup ahead of the party contest, including replacing LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai, the party's No. 2 leader of five years. Nikai said Suga has not named a successor and the LDP leadership race will be held as scheduled. The contest, which will now choose Suga's successor, comes ahead of a general election that must be held as the House of Representatives members' term expires on Oct. 21. Former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida has already thrown his hat into the ring, while Sanae Takaichi, a former minister of internal affairs and communications, has expressed interest in running. Kishida said Friday his intention to run in the party leadership race is "unchanged." Takaichi said she was "appalled" at Suga's flip-flopping on running in the race, and that she "will fight till the end" of it. LDP policy chief Hakubun Shimomura, who had given up on running in the election after being asked by Suga to focus on the coronavirus response, said "the situation has changed" and he will consult fellow LDP members. The stock market climbed "on high expectations that a new government would implement new economic measures against the coronavirus fallout," said Maki Sawada, a strategist in Nomura Securities Co.'s investment content department. Suga had been forced to extend the COVID-19 state of emergency that had been in place in Tokyo until Sept. 12 and expand it to cover 21 of Japan's 47 prefectures as hospitals came under increasing strain. Suga, who served as chief Cabinet secretary for then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for more than seven years, won the party leadership race last year against Kishida and former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and became prime minister on Sept. 16 in succeeding Abe, who stepped down from the post for health reasons. The decision to host the Olympics Games this year despite the worsening pandemic also proved to be hugely unpopular. The 72-year-old, who was born to a family of strawberry farmers, was first elected to the Yokohama City Council in 1987, and in 1996 he was elected to Japan's Diet for the first time. In 2005, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appointed him senior vice minister of internal affairs and communication. The following year, Koizumi's successor Shinzo Abe promoted him to minister with three Cabinet posts, which he held until 2007. Earlier rumbles had indicated that the powerful ruling party ally of Suga could be replaced in a reshuffle ahead of the general election planned for October, media said on Tuesday, ending the term of one of the country's top power brokers . LDP Secretary General Nikai conceded to stepping down in a meeting with Suga on Monday, the reports said, as the premier made a move to shore up support for himself by replacing the unpopular executive. Whoever leads the party in the general election will face an uphill battle. — Agencies
