Japan’s Suga wins race to replace premier Abe

Bloomberg

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga was elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party by an overwhelming majority, ushering in the country’s first change of prime minister in almost eight years.
The party, which has ruled mostly uninterrupted since 1955, was set to use its parliamentary majority to install Suga as prime minister in a separate vote on Wednesday. Suga’s appointment will bring to an end the record run of his ailing boss, Shinzo Abe, who has served since 2012 and forged an identity on the global stage that the world’s third-largest economy had often lacked.
“Amid the national crisis of the spreading coronavirus, we must not allow a political vacuum,” Suga told party lawmakers after the announcement, pledging to maintain Abe’s key policies and bring reform to areas where it’s needed.