Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced on Sept. 3 that he will not be running for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) re-election in September, after about a year in office. Suga, who took over after Shinzo Abe resigned last September due to ill health, cited Japan’s response to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic as reasoning for stepping down, telling reporters that he did not have time to focus on COVID-19 measures as well as campaigning for the LDP job. “I have decided not to run for the party leadership elections, as I would like to focus on coronavirus measures,” he told reporters. “But doing both takes enormous energy and I have decided that I should just choose one or the other,” he said. “As I have repeatedly told people, protecting people’s lives and health is my responsibility as prime minister, and that’s what I will dedicate myself to.” It comes as Suga …