Japan’s coronavirus emergency was coming to an end, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s political troubles may be just beginning.
Abe’s efforts to curb the outbreak and ease its economic damage have been widely ridiculed as slow and ineffective. He’s been outshone by regional governors, who pressed him to finally call the state of emergency credited with halting the spread of infections for now. Now, a favoritism scandal has helped push his approval rating to a level that has forced past leaders to resign.
Moreover, the crisis has undermined support for his economic stewardship and depleted the resources Abe will need to avert a deep recession and pull off another comeback like ones that made him the country’s longest-serving prime minister. As a result, some in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are weighing possible successors, led by former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.