Listen to this articleAfter a document seven years and eight months in power, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday introduced his resignation, citing ill-health after a recurrence of ulcerative colitis.
“I have decided to step down from the post of the prime minister,” Abe mentioned in a information convention August 28.
Abe addressed his well being after two latest hospital visits, saying he was affected by the identical situation that ended his first time period in workplace. “I cannot be prime minister if I cannot make the best decisions for the people,” he mentioned
The 65-year-old mentioned he needed to keep away from inflicting issues to the federal government due to his worsening situation.
Abe has battled ulcerative colitis for years and two latest hospital visits inside every week had fanned questions on whether or not he may keep in the job till the tip of his time period as ruling celebration chief, and therefore, premier, in (*7*) 2021.
“I would like to sincerely apologize to the people of Japan for leaving my post with one year left in my term of office, and amid the coronavirus woes, while various policies are still in the process of being implemented,” mentioned Abe, bowing deeply.
Governing celebration officers had mentioned Abe’s well being is ok however the hospital visits, one lasting greater than seven and a half hours, had fueled rumors about his potential to deal with the job with one other yr earlier than his time period expired.
“A lack of information had created a vacuum that people have been happy to fill with speculation,” Tobias Harris, writer of The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan, a biography of Abe to be revealed in November, informed Al Jazeera.
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