Japan to have new premier in mid-September

Potential successors of the outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have accelerated lobbying for the top post.

After working for the country as the longest-serving premier, Abe, in a surprise statement last week, stepped down owing to his complicated health conditions.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will hold a leadership election on Sept. 14 and the parliament will meet three days later -- Sept. 17 -- when the new LDP leader will have to prove majority to be elected as the prime minister, Kyodo News reported.

Abe refused to comment publicly on his successor.

"I have decided to step down as prime minister as poor health should not lead to wrong political decisions," Abe, 65, told the nation in a live address Friday.

The outgoing premier is suffering from ulcerative colitis which seems to have revived and came to light last month when he reportedly vomited blood.

He, however, will hold the office until the successor is chosen.

"In politics, the most import thing is to produce results," said Abe, who leaves a legacy of making Japan the world's third-largest economy. His four-year term would normally have ended in 2021.

According to local daily Mainichi, current government Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, 71, Sunday "decided to a run for the leadership of the LDP".

Japan's former Defense Chief Shigeru Ishiba is also said to be in the run for the top post while Fumio Kishida, former foreign minister and now policy chief of the LDP, are also solidifying efforts to move up to lead the party and the country.