Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is stepping down just a year after he took office. This is due to the catastrophic surge in the incidence of COVID-19 in the country after the Olympic Games.
Over 83% of Japanese residents protested against holding the Summer Olympics in Tokyo this year. It was moved from last year, when the incidence in Japan was many times lower. It was expected that this year the situation would improve, but the providence of the competition coincided with the height of the third wave that hit the Land of the Rising Sun. Numerous opinion polls showed that the Japanese are categorically against the Olympics, but the authorities insisted on their own. The Olympics were held, and this led to a surge in infections.
At a press conference today, the Prime Minister of Japan announced that he was effectively resigning. He will no longer claim leadership in the party and will not go on an election tour around the country. Yoshihide Suga said he decided to focus on fighting COVID-19 instead of campaigning because it's hard to do two things at the same time. It was necessary to make a choice, and for Suga it is obvious, since sociological studies show the lowest rating of the prime minister of all time precisely in connection with the development of the epidemiological situation.
Yoshihide Suga leads the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party. At the end of October this year, elections will be announced in the country, which are expected to be held in November. The Liberal Democrats are predicted to stay in power, but due to the extreme unpopularity of the prime minister, they could lose many seats in parliament. His government's approval rate is only 31.8%. On Thursday, Japan recorded 18,310 coronavirus infections and 65 deaths. During the pandemic in Japan, 16,000 residents died from the coronavirus, writes The Daily Mail. (READ MORE)