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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will resign because of ill-health, public broadcaster NHK reported on Friday, as Abe prepared to hold a news conference on Friday afternoon in which he was expected to address concerns about his health after two recent hospital visits.
NHK said the 65-year-old wanted to avoid causing problems to the government because of his worsening health. The news conference is due to start at 5pm (08:00 GMT)
Ruling party officials have said Abe’s health is fine, but the hospital visits, one lasting more than seven and a half hours, have fuelled rumours about his ability to handle the job with another year before his term is due to expire
“A lack of information has created a vacuum that people have been happy to fill with speculation,” Tobias Harris, author of The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan, a biography of Shinzo Abe to be published in November, told Al Jazeera.
On Monday, Abe marked eight years in office and became Japan’s longest-serving leader, beating a record set by his great-uncle Eisaku Sato half a century ago, but his popularity has fallen to about 30 percent in recent opinion polls over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and scandals among ruling party members.
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Shinzo Abe becomes Japan’s longest continuously serving PM |
He built his administration around his plan to revive the economy with his “Abenomics” policy of spending and monetary easing – has also beefed up Japan’s military spending and expanded the role of its armed forces even as his dream of revising the country’s pacifist constitution has failed to make headway.
COVID-19 measures
Abe, who has been struggling with the chronic condition ulcerative colitis since his teens, has not provided any detail about the hospital visits. Returning from the last visit on Monday, he said he wanted to take care of his health and do his utmost at his job.
Speculation that he would step down has been dismissed by allies in his ruling Liberal Democratic Party including Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who told Reuters on Wednesday that he meets Abe twice a day and has not seen any change in his health.
He added that Abe’s comments on Monday that he would continue to do his best in the job “explains it all”.
Some analysts were also expecting he would complete his term, despite his health.
“What is clear is that Abe’s health is not in good shape,” Mikitaka Masuyama, a professor of politics at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, told AFP news agency.
“But I think he will stay in office while managing his illness.”
Abe is in his second stint as prime minister. He resigned abruptly from his previous term in 2007 because of his illness, which he has been able to keep in check with medicine that was not previously available. Teh condition is said to be aggravated by stress.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
