UPDATE Abe decides to resign as prime minister

August 28, 2020

Tokyo-- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to step down, apparently due to a worsening of his chronic health condition, informed sources said Friday.

He is expected to announce the resignation at a press conference later in the day.

Abe, 65, who became the country's longest continuously serving prime minister just on Monday, will resign without completing his term as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, due to expire in September next year.

Concerns over Abe's health condition were fueled when he visited a Tokyo hospital on Aug. 17 and Monday for medical checkups. There is speculation that symptoms of his chronic ulcerative colitis, an intestinal disease, have deteriorated.

The LDP aims to choose Abe's successor as soon as possible, in order to avoid a political vacuum. Jiji Press