Japan’s Naoto Kan is in danger of becoming another revolving door prime minister Reuters

Victory by Linda

TOKYO (Reuters)-Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is battling rising coronavirus cases and the highly unpopular Olympics, and may become the next short-term leader among many short-term leaders.

The 72-year-old Suga Yoshihide is the long-term right-hand man of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. His approval rating has dropped from about 70% when he took office to more than 30%-traditionally regarded as a dangerous line for Japanese leaders. month.

After Abe took over, Yoshihide Suga ended his nearly eight-year term of office on the grounds of poor health, making him the longest-serving prime minister of Japan. Prior to this, Japan had experienced six prime ministers, including the first one-year term in which Abe himself was in trouble.

Suga Yoshihide’s dream scenario is to control the virus outbreak, preside over a successful Olympic Games and hold a general election. This situation has been overturned after the recent surge in COVID-19 infections caused Tokyo to enter a fourth state of emergency and forced Olympic organizers to ban spectators from entering almost all venues.

“He didn’t do a good job of handling the party and policies, and no one likes him in power,” said Steven Reid, an emeritus professor at Central University. “All they need is an alternative.”

New infections in Tokyo soared to a nearly six-month high of 1,308 on Thursday, and medical experts have already sounded the alarm. Most of Japan’s voluntary restrictions have failed to curb the movement of people who may spread infectious diseases.

As part of the anti-COVID-19 measures, Minister of Economy Yasutoshi Nishimura tried to stop bars and restaurants from serving alcoholic beverages, but the result was counterproductive and aroused public outcry.

Yoshihide Suga’s head of pandemic response, Nishimura, was forced to apologize and withdraw requests from banks to pressure institutions that failed to comply with alcohol requirements and alcohol wholesalers not to supply such restaurants.

Japan’s vaccination campaign was also slow at first, but now it faces a supply bottleneck, which intensifies dissatisfaction.

Japan has not suffered from explosive outbreaks that have occurred elsewhere, but recorded nearly 830,000 COVID-19 cases and approximately 15,000 deaths. Only 31% of the public had at least one shot.

Facing the election

For Suga’s Liberal Democratic Party, his biggest failing is an inability to win elections.

The Liberal Democratic Party lost three parliamentary by-elections in April, and this month the party and its allies failed to obtain a majority of seats in the Tokyo parliament. The Liberal Democratic Party won far less seats than expected in that poll, which is regarded as a weather vane for the national election.

“The consensus of the Liberal Democratic Party is that unless the Liberal Democratic Party (in the Tokyo election) suffers a significant loss, Yoshihide Suga will serve as prime minister until next spring,” said a senior official with a deep knowledge of the party.

Now, “people in the party are considering how to replace him,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

No current Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight has publicly called for the replacement of Suga.

After all the major factions united around him, Yoshihide Suga won the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party. But he lacks his own strong foundation, and the differences within the party have deepened since he took office.

His term as chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party will expire in September, despite rumors that party voting will be postponed until after the election of the powerful lower house of parliament. The general election must be held before November.

It is difficult to abandon the current prime minister, and even more difficult without an obvious successor. There is also no sign that Japan’s powerful business lobby is dissatisfied with Yoshihide Suga.

“If it is obvious who will succeed him, he may be in greater trouble, but who will the party unite with?” said Tobias Harris, a senior researcher at the American Progressive think tank in Washington. Divided opposition and low turnout may also limit the loss of the Liberal Democratic Party in voting in the House of Commons.

“Is there any reason to think that the turnout rate will be better than the previous elections? Then how serious will the loss of the Liberal Democratic Party be?” Harris said. “This seems to be the’new normal’.”