JAPAN’S Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga was elected yesterday as the new president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to take over from outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

At a joint plenary meeting of party members from both houses of the Diet and delegates from local chapters, Suga, 71, won 377 votes and was the front-runner from the beginning of the election race garnering the support of five of the LDP’s seven major factions and a hefty number of unaffiliated lawmakers.

Such factions included the largest within the LDP led by Hiroyuki Hosoda, a former secretary general, along with another led by LDP Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai. Suga himself, however, does not belong to any factions.

Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, a political heavyweight in the LDP, who serves concurrently as finance minister, also threw the weight of the faction he heads behind Suga.

The other two contenders, Fumio Kishida, 63, a former foreign minister, secured 89 votes, while Shigeru Ishiba, 63, a former defense minister and a rare critic of Abe within the LDP, received 68 votes.

Suga, a native of Akita Prefecture, is now virtually assured of becoming the next prime minister owing to the LDP’s dominance in both chambers of Japan’s bicameral parliament. He is expected to be named as the new prime minister at an extraordinary Diet session to be convened Wednesday.

Suga, who has been one of Abe’s closest confidants for almost eight years, said after the election that he will continue Abe’s policies amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The election was triggered by Abe’s abrupt announcement late last month that he was stepping down due to a recurrent health issue.(Xinhua)