Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigns

Tokyo, Sep 12 (Xinhua) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered his resignation Wednesday, less than a month after he reshuffled his cabinet following a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections.

'I made my determination today to step down,' Abe announced at a press conference held at his office.

Abe said that he quit 'to have the war against terror continued', since as long as he was premier, the opposition leader would not agree to talk about the extension of Japan's refuelling mission in the Indian Ocean.

It would be better to have a new prime minister pursue the matter, he said. Abe also said that he had difficulty in implementing policies and gathering public support.

Abe quit his post as the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and effectively the post of prime minister.

However, Abe will continue to act as premier until the ruling party selects a new leader 'in at least a month', Kyodo News quoted a LDP official as saying.

Abe, who took office on Sep 26 last year, has been plagued by a series of scandals involving his cabinet ministers, pension recording errors, as well as a crushing defeat in July's upper house election which cost the LDP's decades-long dominance in the chamber.

On Aug 27, Abe reshuffled his cabinet and replaced the members with veteran politicians to regain public trust. However, in less than a week, the new Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Takehiko Endo resigned over a scandal involving a farmers' group that he heads. The Internal Affairs Minister Hiroya Masuda admitted Saturday an error in his own political fund report.

Abe hinted at resignation at a press conference after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum Sunday in Sydney, saying that 'I have no intention of clinging to my duties' as prime minister if he could not get the parliament to agree to the extension of the refuelling mission for US-led anti-terrorism operations.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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