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Yoshihide Suga Wins Party Vote for Japan Prime Minister

Associated Press

   TOKYO - Yoshihide Suga was elected as the new head of Japan's ruling
   party on Monday, virtually guaranteeing him parliamentary election as
   the country's next prime minister.

   Suga received 377 votes in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party election
   to pick a successor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced last
   month that he would resign due to health problems. The other two
   contenders received a combined 157 votes.

   The expected victory in the party vote by Suga, currently the chief
   Cabinet secretary of Abe's government, all but guarantees his election
   in a parliamentary vote Wednesday because of the majority held by the
   Liberal Democrats' ruling coalition.

   Suga gained the support of party heavyweights and their wing members
   early in the campaign on expectations that he would continue Abe's
   policies. That his victory appeared to be a done deal has raised
   criticism from inside and outside the party that the process is
   undemocratic and murky.

   The closed-door politics also apparently led lawmakers to support Suga
   in hopes of getting favorable party and Cabinet posts in the new
   administration.

   Suga has said his top priorities are fighting the coronavirus and
   turning around an economy battered by the pandemic. He repeatedly has
   noted achievements under the Abe-led government when asked about
   various policies.

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