Overview
- Kyodo reports that Yoshihide Suga will not contest the next lower house race and intends to leave politics.
- The Japan Times says Suga told the Sankei Shimbun he was considering bowing out for health reasons, and Jiji cites sources saying he does not plan to stand.
- Jiji via The Japan News reports he could brief supporters as early as Saturday, with the LDP’s Kanagawa chapter set to choose a successor candidate.
- The reports come as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi moves to dissolve the lower house, with a general election likely next month.
- Suga served about a year as prime minister, oversaw the Tokyo 2021 Olympics and Paralympics, and earlier spent years as Shinzo Abe’s chief cabinet secretary.