On Friday, Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan stated that he will be resigning from the position. He said he was doing so due to his poor health conditions. He said that he is not in a situation to make decisions that are best for the country and plans on stepping down. Japan is one of the most densely populated country and has the third-largest economy in the world. Japan has one of the lowest unemployment rates with only 16% of the population falling under the category of below poverty line. Handling the country is a huge responsibility and hence and a successor is in finding to replace Abe. Abe made frequent visits to hospitals in the last week. He is diagnosed with ulcerative colitis that might develop into colon cancer. The disease causes inflammation in the innermost lining of the large intestine and leads to chronic diseases.
How did Abe’s resignation affect the country?
Abe is 65 and handling everything is surely difficult for him. His term originally ended in September 2021. He apologized to the citizens of the country for resigning when the pandemic has hit the world and not completing his tenure. One of his motives was also to get Japanese people who were abducted by North Korea years ago. He said that he regrets not being able to fulfill that. After the news of his resignation broke out, $4.7 billion selling was wiped off of $5.7 trillion stock value of Tokyo. The market was almost more than double during Abe’s tenure. Even Japan’s Nikkei fell 2.12% to 22717.02 and TOPIX from 1% to 1599.70.
Japan is going through a slump of economic crisis with the majority of businesses being shut down and leading to recession. He has received a lot of backlash for how he handled the virus and his supporters are reducing. He is the President of the Liberal Democratic Party since 2012. Considered the longest-serving Prime Minister, he has served from 2006 to 2020. In 2007, there was a rise in Abe’s unpopularity when he opposed a female Japanese monarch. Scandals happened and only after 3 days, Abe resigned from his position. Yasuo Fukuda was elected as the new Prime Minister. During that time, he resigned due to the same disease. But, he came back after he recovered and in 2012, he was re-elected as the Prime Minister.
When will the new Prime Minister for Japan be elected?
New election activities are being performed to elect a new office-bearer who will hold the position for the rest of Abe’s term. The country’s government will continue to follow Abenomics which is said to be Shinzo Abe’s legacy to increase the GDP of the country. The resignation will surely create an uncertain environment in Japan as they struggle with COVID-19. During his tenure, he has surely taken some decisions which questioned his ability to run a country. But, he made sure that stability was always maintained.
