Yoshihide Suga elected as Japan's new PM, cabinet announcement soon

Japan's parliament elected Yoshihide Suga as country's new Prime Minister on September 16, with the ruling party president securing an easy win. Suga received 314 votes in favour out of 462 valid ballots cast in the lower house of parliament. According to local media reports, there won’t be a drastic change in the new cabinet under the leadership of Suga as Abe’s successor has pledged to carry on many of the current programmes, including “Abenomics”.

Finance Minister Taro Aso, Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi and Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto and Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi are expected to retain their portfolio. Yasutoshi Nishimura could be reappointed as economy minister and Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama is expected to retain his post.

Katsunobu Kato, the health minister known for his swift COVID-19 response at the early stage of the pandemic, is set to take over Suga’s post as chief cabinet secretary. While the current Defence Minister Taro Kono will take charge of administrative reform, Abe’s younger brother, Nobuo Kishi, is likely to get the defence portfolio.

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Continuity of policies

Suga is expected to finish the rest of the current term until elections in September 2021 and any dramatic shift in key policy decisions is highly unlikely. One of the toughest challenges would be the handling of coronavirus pandemic as Abe faced backlash over COVID-19 response during the second wave. 

Tokyo Olympics is another major challenge for Suga as Japan is set to host the international sporting event next year, which will just two months before the polls. Holding a large scale sporting event with strict COVID-19 measures could be a big task for Suga if athletes and staff don’t get immunised before the Olympics.

Earlier, Abe lamented that the government under his leadership wasn’t able to achieve some goals, is an apparent reference to revise the constitution. The outgoing Japanese PM wanted to write the existence of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces into Article 9 which would have given a constitutional standing to the military.

“However, we were able to take a shot at, and achieve, other divisive issues,” Abe said in a video posted on Twitter.

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