By Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, today, Friday, announced that he will be resigning over failing health.
Expectedly, the development has kicked off a leadership contest in the world’s third-largest economy.
Abe, during a press conference, disclosed that he is suffering from a recurrence of the Ulcerative Colitis which ended his first term in office.
He added that he was receiving a new treatment for the condition, which needed to be administered on a regular basis, noting that this would not leave him with sufficient time to discharge his duties.
He is expected to stay in office until his ruling Liberal Democratic Party can choose a successor, in an election likely to take place among the party’s lawmakers and members.
Abe, who stepped down as Prime Minister just one year into his first term, in 2007, apologized for the second resignation.
