Japanese Communist Party Central Committee Chairman Tetsuzo Fuwa, 75, may leave his post in January due to his advanced age, party sources said Friday.
The move apparently reflects the JCP's judgment that the party should rejuvenate its leadership ahead of unified municipality elections and the House of Councilors election in 2007.
Fuwa has been the JCP leader for more than three decades even though he retired from the House of Representatives in 2003.
Some JCP members have not been in favor of Fuwa retaining the chairmanship of the party, the sources said.
But in view of the fact that Fuwa has maintained control over the party, it is not yet certain he will step down, political observers say.
Some party members regard him as the only person capable of leading the party, given his Diet experience and skills in theory.
This means he will likely keep his other positions, including chief of the party's social science research institute, in order to maintain some influence even after giving up the Central Committee chairman post, the sources said.
The party's chairman, Kazuo Shii, 51, and its secretariat chief, Tadayoshi Ichida, 62, may lead the party together.
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