Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wearing a protective face mask arrives at his official residence, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan August 28, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Shinzo Abe on Friday said he was resigning because of poor health, ending a tenure as the country's longest-serving prime minister in which he sought to revive an economy stricken by deflation and push for a stronger military.
His abrupt departure triggers a leadership battle in his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) over the next few weeks. The winner will likely stick to Abe's reflationary "Abenomics" policies that had mixed results in resuscitating the world's third-largest economy.
