Yoshihide Suga

Yoshihide Suga
Yoshihide Suga
菅義偉
	Official portrait, 2020
Prime Minister of Japan
	In office; 16 September 2020 – 4 October 2021
Monarch	Naruhito
Deputy	Tarō Asō
Preceded by	Shinzo Abe
Succeeded by	Fumio Kishida
President of the Liberal Democratic Party
	In office; 14 September 2020 – 29 September 2021
Secretary-General	Toshihiro Nikai
Preceded by	Shinzo Abe
Succeeded by	Fumio Kishida
Chief Cabinet Secretary
	In office; 26 December 2012 – 16 September 2020
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe
Preceded by	Osamu Fujimura
Succeeded by	Katsunobu Katō
Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications
	In office; 26 September 2006 – 27 August 2007
Prime Minister	Shinzo Abe
Preceded by	Heizō Takenaka
Succeeded by	Hiroya Masuda
Member of the House of Representatives; for Kanagawa's 2nd district;
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 20 October 1996
Preceded by	Constituency established
Personal details
Born	6 December 1948 (age 75); Yuzawa, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Spouse	Mariko Suga
Children	3
Alma mater	Hosei University (LLB)
Signature
Website	Official website

Yoshihide Suga (菅義偉, Suga Yoshihide, born 6 December 1948) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2020 to 2021. He had served as Chief Cabinet Secretary during the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2020. During Abe's first administration, Suga served as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications from 2006 to 2007.

Born to a family of strawberry farmers in rural Akita Prefecture, Suga moved to Tokyo after graduating from high school, where he enrolled in Hosei University. Shortly after graduating, Suga became an aide to Representative Hikosaburo Okonogi in 1975, before entering politics himself when he was elected to the Yokohama Municipal Assembly in 1987. In the 1996 election, Suga was elected to the House of Representatives, representing Kanagawa's 2nd district as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

During his time in the Diet, Suga became a close ally of Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe. When Abe first became prime minister in 2006, he appointed Suga to the Cabinet as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications. Suga left the Cabinet a year later, but after the LDP won the 2012 election, Suga was appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary, a role he would hold throughout Abe's second term as prime minister. This made him the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history. In September 2020, after Abe announced that he would resign due to health concerns, Suga was elected so succeed him in the LDP presidential election and was subsequently elected prime minister by the Diet and appointed by Emperor Naruhito.

Suga's premiership focused primarily on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including overseeing the rollout of vaccines in the country. Suga's time in office also saw the holding of the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo and the announcement of a plan for Japan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. While Suga began his time in office relatively popular, his approval ratings fell due to public dissatisfaction with the government's handling of the pandemic and the Olympic Games. Facing hesitancy from his party amid preparation for the upcoming 2021 general election, Suga announced on 3 September 2021 that he would not seek reelection in the 2021 LDP presidential election, effectively resigning as party president and prime minister. His tenure officially ended on 4 October 2021 after he was succeeded by Fumio Kishida.