TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga intends to run in the ruling party leadership race to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source.

Abe, Japan’s longest-serving premier, said on Friday he was stepping down due to a worsening of a chronic illness, setting the stage for a leadership election within his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

The LDP president is virtually assured of being prime minister because of the party’s majority in the lower house of parliament.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by William Mallard)

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