Japan’s Suga says to run for leadership race, wants to avoid vacuum

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga officially declared on Wednesday he would run for leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a race he is widely tipped to win to become the next prime minister.

Speaking to a briefing, Suga said he wanted to run to avoid a political vacuum at a time when the world’s third-largest economy grapples with the impact of the pandemic.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Tetsuji Kajimoto; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Andrew Heavens)–The Star