ALBAWABA - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced that he would resign in September, capping a three-year term tainted by political scandals and opening the way for the next prime minister.
Kishida announced his decision in a press conference on Wednesday, where he stressed that he will not be seeking reelection as Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader.
"Politics cannot function without public trust. I will now focus on supporting the newly elected LDP leader as a rank-and-file member of the party," Kishida stated.
Kishida has notified senior government officials that he will not run, according to Japanese national network NHK and Kyodo News. His decision to resign sparks a campaign to succeed him as party president.
Kishida's popular support has dwindled as a result of discoveries concerning the LDP's links to the controversial Unification Church and unreported political payments made at party fundraisers.
However, when the economy finally recovered from years of deflationary pressure, he encountered popular dissatisfaction with salaries that failed to keep up with growing living costs.
Whoever replaces Kishida as chairman of the LDP will have to reconcile a fractured ruling group while dealing with growing living costs, escalating geopolitical tensions with China, and the possibility of Donald Trump becoming president of the United States again next year.
Kishida, Japan's eighth-longest serving postwar premier, oversaw enormous stimulus expenditure to help the country recover from the COVID outbreak.
He also selected Kazuo Ueda as Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), an academic entrusted with putting a stop to his predecessor's dramatic monetary stimulus. In July, the BOJ abruptly hiked interest rates as inflation took root, adding to stock market volatility and driving the yen substantially down.
