Yoshihide Suga, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s faithful right-hand man who has served as top government spokesman for Abe’s entire second tenure, declared his entry into a Liberal Democratic Party leadership contest Wednesday, brandishing stability and continuity as his chief qualifications to steer the country.
Mentioning Abe’s resignation, Suga described the prime minister leaving in the middle of his term as “regrettable,” adding that a political vacuum “should not be tolerated during a national crisis.”
“I’ve contemplated hard what I should be doing as a politician, and as someone who has supported the Abe administration, to overcome this crisis and bring back an everyday life that brings a sense of relief to all of the people as soon as possible,” the chief cabinet secretary said in a packed news conference Wednesday evening.