Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Thursday emphasized it was his desire to focus on the country’s pandemic response, and not a political predicament, that led him to abandon his re-election bid for Liberal Democratic Party president.
In his first formal news conference since his stunning announcement, the prime minister stressed that it was his realization that the coronavirus state of emergency could not be lifted by Sunday as scheduled that prompted him to quit the party’s leadership race.
His responsibility as prime minister, Suga said, should be to put “a process in motion to overcome this crisis and restore security and liveliness in our daily lives.”