TOKYO－Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga will join the race to succeed his boss Shinzo Abe as prime minister, local media said on Sunday, as the competition heated up to succeed the country's longest-serving leader.

Suga, a longtime lieutenant of Abe in a key supporting role, had denied interest in the top job but attracted attention with a series of interviews with Reuters and other news organizations in the days before Abe's abrupt resignation for health reasons.

Abe's announcement on Friday, citing a worsening of a chronic illness, set the stage for a leadership election within his Liberal Democratic Party. The LDP president is virtually assured of being prime minister because of the party's majority in the lower house of parliament.

Suga decided to join the LDP race judging that he should play a leading role, given expectations for his ability to manage crises, such as COVID-19 and Japan's deepest postwar economic dive, Kyodo News agency said, citing an unnamed source.

Calls to Suga's parliamentary office seeking comment on Sunday went unanswered.

Suga would join candidates such as the former foreign minister Fumio Kishida and the former defense minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Suga, a self-made politician in a country of political dynasties, was chosen by Abe in 2012 for the pivotal role of chief Cabinet secretary, acting as top government spokesman, coordinating policies and riding herd on bureaucrats.

"I'm thinking of running in the LDP leadership race, and I'd like you to support me," Suga told LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai in a secret meeting on Saturday, TV Tokyo reported.

It quoted Nikai as replying: "Please do your best," which it said was a sign of his backing for Suga.

"Everyone wants to be on the winning side, so if Nikai is supporting Suga, they will jump on the bandwagon," said Koichi Nakano, political science professor at Sophia University in Tokyo.

Further uncertainty

Abe's resignation on Friday over health issues caught the country by surprise and sent two major stock indexes tumbling in Tokyo.

Japan's economy is already in deep recession amid the pandemic, and the sudden resignation of the prime minister, who led the country's economic recovery through so-called Abenomics, has added further uncertainty.

In December 2012 Abe took office for the second time and launched ultraloose monetary policy, proactive fiscal policy and a series of structural reform measures to boost the country's economy. Guided by Abenomics, Japan's economy was on the path to slow recovery, leading to a sharp rebound in the stock market and the real estate market.

However, according to the Economic and Social Research Institute of the Cabinet Office, the phase of economic expansion started by Abenomics ended in October 2018. The 71-month recovery was the second-longest since World War II.

According to the latest data, Japan's economy shrank 7.8 percent in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter, or at an annualized rate of 27.8 percent, logging the sharpest contraction on record.

In addition to COVID-19, various economic and social issues and pressure on the social security system brought about by a shrinking population will act as a drag on the economy for a long time, presenting the new leader with an exceptionally difficult challenge.