日本首相菅义伟周五表示，他不会参选谋求连任执政的自民党总裁。这一通告事实上结束了他一年前才开始的首相生涯。
"I have decided not to run for the party leadership elections, as I would like to focus on coronavirus measures," Suga told reporters at a Tokyo press conference.
菅义伟在东京的一场新闻发布会上表示：“我决定不参与党首选举，因为我想集中精力应对疫情。”
Suga became prime minister last September. He took over for Shinzo Abe, who stepped down for health reasons. The son of a farmer, Suga enjoyed public support ratings as high as 70 percent early in office. He was seen as a leader of common people, rather than of powerful political families like Abe.
菅义伟去年9月成为首相。他接替了因健康原因辞职的安倍晋三。作为农民的儿子，菅义伟在上任初期获得了高达70%的公众支持率。他被视为平民领袖，而不是像安倍这样强大的政治家族。
However, Suga's political popularity sharply fell as he struggled to control the coronavirus pandemic. He came under strong criticism about his approach to the health crisis from the public and his own party.
然而，菅义伟的政治声望在他努力控制新冠疫情之际急剧下降。公众和他的政党对他应对此次健康危机的方式提出了强烈批评。
Much of the criticism has centered on his decision to host the Tokyo Olympics this summer even with widespread public opposition. He had hoped that a successful Olympics would increase his public support.
大部分批评都集中在他决定今年夏天举办东京奥运会上，尽管公众普遍反对。他还曾希望奥运会的成功举办会提升他的公众支持度。
Shortly after the Games began in late July, Japan saw its worst increase in coronavirus infections. Suga put in place states of emergency to slow the spread. But they have had little effect.
在7月下旬奥运会开幕后不久，日本面临了新冠病毒感染率最严重的增长。菅义伟实施了紧急状态以延缓疫情传播，但是收效甚微。
Japan's COVID infection rate continues to stay high. Although, its virus death rate remains relatively low compared to many other developed countries.
日本的新冠病毒感染率继续居高不下。尽管如此，与其它许多发达国家相比，其病死率仍然相对较低。
A recent survey by public broadcaster NHK shows that 60 percent of Japanese people are unhappy with Suga's response to the virus. Many are also unhappy with the country's vaccine effort. Vaccination rates have only recently started to rise.
公共广播公司NHK最近的一项调查表明，60%的日本人对菅义伟应对病毒的反应感到不满。许多人还对该国的疫苗工作感到不满。疫苗接种率最近才开始上升。
Corey Wallace teaches at Japan's Kanagawa University. He said in many ways Suga's biggest problem was his poor communication skills. Suga has been criticized for giving overly hopeful messages about the state of the crisis.
柯瑞·华莱士在日本神奈川大学任教。他表示，从许多方面来说，菅义伟最大的问题是他的沟通能力很差。菅义伟对危机状况给出了过于乐观的信息而受到批评。
"And that's just made it very hard for him to overcome all these little problems, all these little criticisms, all the doubts that people have about whether the government is fully in control or is just reacting to what comes up at any given time," Wallace said.
华莱士说：“这让他很多解决所有这些小问题，所有这些小批评，以及人们所有的质疑，即政府是尽在掌握，还是只对特定时间发生的事情做出反应。”
Efforts to stay in power
继续执政的努力
In an effort to stay in power, Suga had planned to restructure his cabinet. However, he failed to win the support of several important party leaders. Many were worried about their own position in the upcoming election for the lower house of the legislature known as the Diet. The election must happen before the end of November.
为了继续执政，菅义伟曾计划重组内阁。然而，他未能获得党内几位重要领导人的支持。许多人担心自己在即将举行的议会下院选举中的席位。此次选举必须在11月底之前举行。
Most observers expect the LDP to keep its majority in the election. However, the party has performed poorly in several recent local elections.
大多数观察人士预计，自民党将在选举中维持多数席位。然而，该党在最近的几次地方选举中表现不佳。
Party leaders most likely to replace Suga include former Defense and Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Kono, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, and current environment minister Shinjiro Koizumi.
最有可能接替菅义伟党的党内领导人包括前防卫大臣河野太郎、前防卫大臣石场茂和现任环境大臣小泉真次郎。
I'm Dan Novak.
我是丹·诺瓦克。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，请勿转载，违者必究！)