SUGA WINS RACE TO REPLACE ABE BUT MAY HAVE TO CALL SNAP POLLS

As Japan’s next prime minister, Yoshihide Suga will face an early, and difficult, leadership decision: whether to call a general election before his honeymoon with voters fades or wait and risk seeing ratings slide, Linda Sieg wrote for Reuters on September 15, 2020.

The decision will affect Suga’s chances of holding office beyond the remainder of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s term, which expires next year. A successful early election may also help him gain momentum to push his agenda, including deregulation and smashing bureaucratic silos.

Suga won a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership poll on Monday, and the party’s parliamentary majority means he is virtually guaranteed to replace Abe, who is resigning after nearly eight years as prime minister because of illness.

Suga acknowledged on Monday that the question of timing for a lower house election was a tough call amid worries about the coronavirus and a slumping economy. A poll for the powerful chamber must be held by late October 2021.

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