TOKYO  - Japan’s Yoshihide Suga, a long-time ally of outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, won a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election on Monday, paving the way for him to become prime minister in a parliamentary vote this week.

Suga, 71, who served in the powerful post of chief cabinet secretary during Abe’s nearly eight-year tenure, has said he will pursue his predecessor’s “Abenomics” recipe of hyper-easy monetary policy, government spending and reform and follow a diplomatic line centred on the US-Japan security alliance.