Japanese PM Abe announces resignation over health issues, intends to run in next general election

AFP

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that he would step down from his post due to health concerns, bringing an end to his record eight-year tenure.

However, the prime minister told a press conference that he planned to continue his political career and would run in the next general election to be held by the fall of 2021.

Abe said he would remain in office until his successor was chosen by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) but he stopped short of naming his preferred successor.

"As I am no longer in a condition to respond confidently to the mandate of the people, I have decided I should not stay in the prime minister's post," he said at the nationally televised press conference.

Abe said his health condition worsened and he began feeling severe fatigue in July, adding that he lost confidence in his ability to serve the Japanese people.

The prime minister said test results in June showed his ulcerative colitis, an intestinal disease that led his first one-year stint to end abruptly in 2007, was beginning to resurface.

Abe said he had been able to keep the illness under control for nearly eight years into his tenure but now he would receive new treatment and required prolonged care.

According to local media reports, the LDP will decide next Tuesday on how to hold a leadership election, with parliamentarians and representatives of local chapters likely casting ballots.

Abe also said that the downtrend in COVID-19 cases prompted him to resign, adding that he thought it was the right time to step down because the spread of the coronavirus has slowed.

The prime minister said at a government meeting on Friday that Japan aimed to secure COVID-19 vaccinations for all citizens by the first half of 2021.

He also said he has been able to compile new measures against the virus, including expanding testing capacity to 200,000 a day.

Speculations about the Japanese premier's deteriorating health have been swirling and amplified by his two trips to a Tokyo hospital within a week.

Abe's first admission to hospital on Aug. 17 for what was described as a "health checkup" that lasted more than seven hours stoked concerns about his health.

On August 24, Abe revisited the Keio University Hospital in Tokyo to receive the results of the checkup and to receive more tests. On the same day, he became Japan's longest-serving leader with the most consecutive days in office at 2,799.

Abe, 65, during his first tenure as prime minister, which started in late September 2006, abruptly stepped down from his post in 2007 due to the chronic ulcerative colitis.

After a landslide victory in the lower house in 2012, he returned to serve as the nation's premier and his nearly eight-year tenure has made him Japan's longest-ever serving leader.

Abe, prior to his current health condition, was set to spend one more year at the helm.

Abe's presidentship of the main ruling LDP was set to run out in September 2021.