Yoshihide Suga elected new prime minister of Japan

Yoshihide Suga was elected Japan's new prime minister. He will succeed Shinzo Aben, who announced his resignation last month for health reasons.

Suga (71 year) received 314 out of 462 votes in parliament's lower house. A simple majority was needed for the election of the new prime minister.

On Monday, Yoshihide Suga was elected the new leader of the ruling party.

Thus, the former chief secretary of Abbe's cabinet secured the election as prime minister in parliament, where the ruling Liberal Democrats coalition has the majority.

Souga won the support of key people in the party because of the expectations they have that he will continue Abbes' policy.

Souga announced that the government's top priorities will be the fight against Coronavirus and the recovery of the economy hit hard by pandemic.

He will announce the composition of Japan's new government during Wednesday's (September 16th).

Abe, who has broken the record as the prime minister who served the longest in Japan before leaving the office, has publicly supported no candidate who has been competing for chief executive.