Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet resigned as
scheduled en masse on Tuesday morning, according to Kyodo News.
Yasuo Fukuda, newly-elected president of the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP), will be elected premier by the lower house
of the Diet in the afternoon and form his new Cabinet in the
evening.
Abe stepped into power last September. During his one year's
term, he made efforts to improve relations with China and South
Korea. On domestic policies, he continued with former Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform and finished the upgrade of the
defense agency into a ministry.
A series of scandals related with Cabinet ministers tarnished
the Abe administration as well as the LDP, which suffered a
historical defeat in July's upper house election.
Abe originally refused to step down to take responsibility as
was urged by many politicians. However, less than a month after the
Cabinet reshuffle and only two days after making a policy speech,
he abruptly announced resignation on September 12.
The decision was slapped by both oppositions and some members of
the ruling camp for wasting tax payers' money for the 13-day
adjournment of the parliament due to his sudden resignation.
(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2007)
