Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday was elected as the new Prime Minister, replacing outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced his resignation last month due to health issues.

News agency IANS reported Suga will announce the members of his new cabinet before being formally inaugurated at a ceremony at the Imperial Palace. Suga, 71 will be the oldest Prime Minister of Japan to take office since Kiichi Miyazawa in 1991. Suga won 314 votes out of 462 cast by parliament’s lower house members. The space takes superiority in electing a premier over the upper house, which was also expected to pick Suga because of a ruling block majority.

Suga, who won a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership race by a landslide on Monday, faces a number of tasks, including tackling novel coronavirus while bracing a battered economy and dealing with a quickly aging society.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his Twitter handle congratulated the new Prime Minister of Japan. In his tweet, he said, “Heartiest congratulations to Excellency Yoshihide Suga on the appointment as Prime Minister of Japan @kantei. I look forward to jointly taking our Special Strategic and Global Partnership to new heights. @sugawitter.”