Candidate For Japanese PM, Yoshihide Suga Announces The Name Of Future Minister In His Cabinet

Candidate for Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga (Twitter / @ sugawitter)

JAKARTA - One more step, Yoshihide Suga will become the Prime Minister (PM) of Japan. He stepped forward to replace his predecessor, Shinzo Abe. In this regard, Suga has announced the names of the ministers in his cabinet. Some are old names that have been retained from Abe's cabinet.

Suga, in a statement some time ago, had indeed given the grid that he would continue with Abe's policies. This has implications for the ranks in his current cabinet.

According to Reuters, several ministers will fill the same position. It is noted that Minister of Finance Taro Aso, Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi, and Minister of Economy Yasutoshi Nishimura will continue to fill these positions.

However, changes will be seen in the position of defense minister filled by Taro Kono. He will be replaced by Nobuo Kishi who is Abe's younger brother. Meanwhile, Taro Kono himself will be moved to become minister of the interior.

Not only that. The name Toshihiro Nikai, who is known as an important Suga person, will be reappointed as general secretary of the party. That way, Suga also wants the ministers he defends to keep handling COVID-19 their top priority.

Suga Cabinet (Twitter / @ sugawitter)

"We will do everything we can to secure vaccines and medicines to protect people's lives and health, as well as support medical institutions," said the head of policy for the Suga party, Hakubun Shimomura.

The position of Minister of Health will later be filled by the name of the former chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato. This is due to his fast action in overcoming the COVID-19 outbreak. Moreover, he is known to be close to Suga.

“Many different elements are needed. One of them is their compatibility with PM, but if you think about it as a whole, they also need to have a wide range of strengths, that would be the most calming, "said Suga.

Previously, Suga was almost certain to be elected prime minister in the parliamentary vote on Wednesday. Suga will even serve the remainder of Abe's term as party leader until September 2021.

Suga's appearance in the PM election market was none other than because of his work for Japan from Behind the Scenes. For this reason, he is the favorite candidate to replace Japan's longest-running prime minister, Abe, who just last month resigned due to deteriorating health.