Yoshihide Suga confirmed as Japan's new PM

PanARMENIAN.Net - Yoshihide Suga was elected as Japan's next prime minister by the country's lower house of parliament on Wednesday, September 16, replacing Shinzo Abe who resigned because of poor health and promising to continue his signature economic policies, Al Jazeera reports.

The 71-year-old Suga - the son of a strawberry farmer - won the leadership contest of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Monday and was all but assured the top job when his appointment went to a vote in parliament given the party's two-thirds majority.

Unlike his predecessors, Suga does not come from a privileged background and rose to the top of the LDP without belonging to any of its powerful factions.

The fight against the coronavirus will be a priority, but he has also signalled a continuation of the broad policy framework of Abenomics, the three-pronged strategy that was Abe's signature policy and that involved monetary easing, government spending and structural reform.

He is expected to push forward with his own initiatives, including bureaucratic reform, digitalisation, and helping Japan's rural communities through policies on agriculture and tourism.

The former Chief Cabinet Secretary and Abe loyalist appointed a new cabinet shortly after he became prime minister, keeping about half of the familiar faces from his predecessor's lineup.