Chairman Kobayashi’s Comments on Prime Minister Suga’s Decision
Not to Run in the LDP Leadership Election

September 10, 2021

Prime Minister Suga has always said that COVID-19 countermeasures are his highest priority, so I respect his recent decision not to run in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election in order to concentrate on the extremely difficult task of responding to the pandemic.

It is expected that 60 percent of Japanese people will have received two doses of vaccine by the end of this month. I believe this rapid vaccine rollout is truly thanks to Prime Minister Suga’s strong leadership.

Furthermore, I recognize that his earnest efforts to address important issues, such as the promotion of policies aimed at realizing carbon neutrality by 2050 and the establishment of a new Digital Agency to formulate and implement an integrated digitalization policy in Japan, have paved the way to further economic growth.

The LDP leadership election is coming soon, but in the meantime I would like the government to continue with its efforts to deal with the urgent issues at hand, such as COVID-19 countermeasures and the normalization of social and economic activities.