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Staying power

Noah Sneider: Tokyo bureau chief, The Economist, TOKYO

Japan’s new leader faces electoral and other tests

Just add Suga

BETWEEN 1990 and 2012, Japan had 15 prime ministers. When Abe Shinzo took the job
in 2012, few believed he would last much longer than the average of less than two
years—indeed, his first stint in office in 2006 ended after just one. Yet when Mr Abe
resigned because of ill health in September 2020, his term had lasted a record 2,822
days.

Suga Yoshihide, Mr Abe’s loyal lieutenant, replaced him, promising continuity and
stability. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) elected Mr Suga in an emergency
vote to serve out the remainder of Mr Abe’s term. A full contest for the next three-year
term as party leader, scheduled for September 2021, will indicate whether the LDP is
back to its revolving-door ways. The public will have a chance to register its verdict on
the party’s post-Abe direction in a nationwide Diet election in October (or earlier in the
year, if Mr Suga dissolves the parliament ahead of schedule, as many expect he will).