OREANDA-NEWS. The current general secretary of the Japanese cabinet of ministers, Yoshihide Suga, was elected the new chairman of the country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), replacing the head of government, Shinzo Abe, who at the end of August announced his intention to resign.

Voting took place on September 14 in Tokyo at the party convention. Suga was supported by 377 of the 394 LDP members from the parliament, as well as 89 of 141 party members from 47 Japanese prefectures.

On September 16, Suga should be confirmed as a new prime minister at a meeting of both houses of the national parliament. According to the party charter, the next head of the LDP will hold this post until the end of September 2021, when the term of office of the resigned Abe expires. Then there will be new election for a standard three-year term.