Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has chosen former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida as its new leader on Wednesday, setting him up to succeed Yoshihide Suga as prime minister and take the party into a general election later this year.
The election came after Suga announced on Sept. 3 that he was stepping down amid mounting criticisms about his government’s coronavirus response.
Kishida won 257 votes against 170 for vaccine minister Taro Kono, the runoff contender. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga had earlier decided to step down from office.
Two woman candidates Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda had dropped out of the race.
Kishida, 64, is widely known as a consensus builder. The former banker will have to address the economic problems in the country after it suffered due to the pandemic.
Kishida promised to compile an economic stimulus package worth hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the year, adding that the country is facing multiple challenges, including the COVID crisis, the aging population, keeping the Indo-Pacific region free and open, and creating new capitalism for the people.
Kishida will be formally elected as prime minister in a parliamentary session scheduled to begin on Oct. 4.
(With inputs from agencies)
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