Yoshihide Suga
Yoshihide Suga came into power in September after the abrupt resignation of Shinzo Abe to become Japan’s 99th prime minister. Suga had been a long-time fixer for Abe, though in the shadows.
Suga won the elections with a landslide, that is 74% of the public. This set expectations high for Suga, but they were brought down because of how he handled the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic. His support has thus gone to 38% of the public. The veteran Japanese political critic, Da Zhigang, commented that if the numbers went below 30%, Suga should opt for early resignation.
One of the biggest consequences of the pandemic was the falling of Japan’s economy to 27.8%. This happened in the second quarter of 2020 and has been the largest drop since world war II. There was some light at the end of the tunnel upon returning to the 3rd quarter. This is because the economy grew by 5%. The hope seemed to have been short-lived upon the resurgence of the cases.
Suga stopped domestic tourism after recording a high number of daily cases. This caused a lot of complaints among business people. In 2021, the problems facing Suga may continue as well the dilemma of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Jair Bolsonaro
Bolsonaro became the president of Brazil in January 2019. He looked up to US President Donald Trump and therefore adopted policies that were aimed at; strengthening the military, law enforcement, and religion. He also supported law-abiding citizens to own guns for protection and looked down upon the LGBT community.
Under Bolsonaro’s rule, Brazil recorded the third-highest Covid-19 cases. He also fought against the use of the Covid-19 vaccine, making ridiculous accusations of its side effects.
Bolsonaro reduced the regulations for businesses. This was at the expense of the country’s natural resources and its citizens. Laws pushed by Bolsonaro encouraged exploration of the amazon and indigenous lands by businesses.
Hassan Rouhani
Rouhani is Iran’s president who is about to complete his term as president as Iran’s constitution allows a president to rule for only two terms.
Rouhani is therefore racing against time to complete his most important task, the nuclear deal with the USA. US President Donald Trump refused to go along with this deal in 2018, but the future of this deal became brighter upon the beginning of the Biden administration.