Yoshihide Suga, cabinet secretary under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who has resigned for health reasons, has been formally elected Prime Minister of Japan.
To nobody’s surprise, it was announced on Monday that Suga would also succeed Abe as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Japanese ruling party with a majority in the lower house.
Suga is Japan’s first new prime minister in eight years. He faces the difficult task of getting Japan through the corona crisis as economically as possible while keeping the number of infections low.
Japan also aspires to hold the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which were postponed this year, next year.
Prime Minister Suga may call for new elections after taking office. If he wins it, he can work as prime minister for a full term.
Now he is only allowed to serve Abe’s tenure. This means that elections will have to be held again in about a year.