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Tokyo - Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, struggling after a bashing at the polls and suffering low support rates, said yesterday that he would resign.
The hawkish 52-year-old Abe took office just one year ago promising to boost Japan's global security profile and pursue economic reforms .
On Sunday, Abe had indicated he would step down if he failed to extend a Japanese naval mission supporting US-led operations in Afghanistan.
Opposition parties, which won control of Parliament's Upper House in the July poll and can delay the enabling legislation, had been preparing to grill him on the topic in Parliament yesterday afternoon.
"The timing is astonishing. It's a huge surprise. He said he would risk his job in passing the antiterrorism law, so I don't know why he is resigning before making the effort," said Koichi Haji, chief economist at NLI Research Institute.
The Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner suffered a drubbing in the July election, and Abe's support ratings have floundered amid a row over pensions and a series of financial scandals involving cabinet ministers.
Party secretary-general Taro Aso, a close Abe ally who shares most of his hawkish views on security, is seen as frontrunner to succeed as LDP president and hence, Prime Minister.
Financial markets had been worried about the possibility that the stalemate over the naval mission and Abe's other woes would either prompt him to resign or spark a snap election for the powerful Lower House, threatening political instability and a policy vacuum.
Abe had already been weakened by scandals and gaffes by ministers that contributed to the election disaster and had been expected to provide fodder for Opposition grilling in Parliament in the coming weeks.
Abe has put most of his energy into diplomacy - improving ties with China and South Korea - and pushing a conservative agenda, so some analysts said his resignation might not affect economic policies all that much.
Others, though, noted his successor would face a number of tough policy headaches.
"Abe probably wanted to start afresh as he thought that his ardent wish to change the constitution would not be realised even if he stayed on now. It is apparent thathis Administration is a lame duck," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.
"As for economic policy, his successor will have to take over the difficult task of balancing fiscal consolidation and efforts to revive regional economies, when changing the tax system is an option that is very difficult to take."
- Reuters