Tokyo, Sep 18 (DPA) The vote to choose Japan’s next premier is to be held in the Diet on Sep 25, political parties decided Tuesday, nearly a week after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was resigning.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) agreed to hold the vote next week, the Kyodo News agency said.
The vote is to come on the heels of an election within Abe’s LDP Sunday to choose its premier candidate.
Since Abe abruptly ended his yearlong premiership Sep 12 and was hospitalised the next day, former chief cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda and LDP Secretary General Taro Aso have been running for party president. Fukuda is expected to come out on top.
The winner of the election would effectively become Japan’s prime minister because the LDP controls the House of Representatives, which can override decisions by the House of Councillors, which the DPJ gained control of in July elections.
Meanwhile, Abe, who had been expected back in the office Tuesday, was ordered to remain in hospital this week for a gastrointestinal disorder triggered by stress and fatigue because no improvement had been seen in the prime minister’s condition.