Karen Mhlanga
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his resignation in a news conference on Friday after a recurrence of ulcerative colitis.
Abe said, “I cannot be prime minister if I cannot make the best decisions for the people.”
The 65 year old had been battling ulcerative colitis for two years and two recent hospital visits in only a week had raised questions on whether or not he would stay on the job.
“I would like to sincerely apologize to the people of Japan for leaving my post with one year left in my term of office, amid coronavirus woes, while various policies are still in process of being implemented,” he said.
On Monday Abe marked his 2,799th day in office making him the longest serving leader in Japan.
The resignation will trigger a leadership race in the ruling party which is the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the winner will serve for the rest of his term.
Jeff Kingston from Temple University in Tokyo said Abe’s legacy “will be rather limited.”
“He will be remembered for the longest- serving prime minister, but having been in power for so long with a super-majority in the Diet (parliament), he hasn’t really achieved all that much,” he said.
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