[ti:Japan’s Prime Minister Suga to Leave Office]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Friday
[00:05.80]he will not run for re-election as head of the ruling
[00:10.32]Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP.
[00:15.44]The announcement effectively ends his run as prime minister
[00:20.12]just a year after it began.
[00:24.52]"I have decided not to run for the party leadership elections,
[00:29.24]as I would like to focus on coronavirus measures,"
[00:33.20]Suga told reporters at a Tokyo press conference.
[00:38.44]Suga became prime minister last September.
[00:43.24]He took over for Shinzo Abe, who stepped down for health reasons.
[00:49.80]The son of a farmer, Suga enjoyed public support ratings
[00:55.16]as high as 70 percent early in office.
[01:00.24]He was seen as a leader of common people,
[01:03.76]rather than of powerful political families like Abe.
[01:10.52]However, Suga's political popularity sharply fell
[01:15.32]as he struggled to control the coronavirus pandemic.
[01:20.68]He came under strong criticism about his approach to the health crisis
[01:25.52]from the public and his own party.
[01:30.20]Much of the criticism has centered on his decision
[01:34.20]to host the Tokyo Olympics this summer
[01:37.36]even with widespread public opposition.
[01:41.72]He had hoped that a successful Olympics
[01:44.72]would increase his public support.
[01:48.48]Shortly after the Games began in late July,
[01:52.12]Japan saw its worst increase in coronavirus infections.
[01:58.36]Suga put in place states of emergency to slow the spread.
[02:03.44]But they have had little effect.
[02:08.16]Japan's COVID infection rate continues to stay high.
[02:13.04]Although, its virus death rate remains relatively low
[02:17.36]compared to many other developed countries.
[02:22.32]A recent survey by public broadcaster NHK
[02:27.20]shows that 60 percent of Japanese people
[02:30.32]are unhappy with Suga's response to the virus.
[02:34.88]Many are also unhappy with the country's vaccine effort.
[02:40.84]Vaccination rates have only recently started to rise.
[02:47.48]Corey Wallace teaches at Japan's Kanagawa University.
[02:53.28]He said in many ways Suga's biggest problem
[02:57.12]was his poor communication skills.
[03:00.96]Suga has been criticized for giving overly hopeful messages
[03:06.04]about the state of the crisis.
[03:10.16]"And that's just made it very hard for him
[03:13.08]to overcome all these little problems,
[03:16.32]all these little criticisms, all the doubts that people have
[03:21.60]about whether the government is fully in control
[03:25.36]or is just reacting to what comes up at any given time," Wallace said.
[03:33.12]In an effort to stay in power,
[03:35.84]Suga had planned to restructure his cabinet.
[03:39.56]However, he failed to win the support
[03:43.20]of several important party leaders.
[03:46.76]Many were worried about their own position in the upcoming election
[03:51.48]for the lower house of the legislature known as the Diet.
[03:56.12]The election must happen before the end of November.
[04:02.48]Most observers expect the LDP to keep its majority in the election.
[04:08.92]However, the party has performed poorly in several recent local elections.
[04:16.68]Party leaders most likely to replace Suga
[04:20.56]include former Defense and Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Kono,
[04:26.16]former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba,
[04:30.28]and current environment minister Shinjiro Koizumi.
[04:36.88]I'm Dan Novak.
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