Nippon Ishin no Kai decided Thursday to begin procedures to hold an early leadership election, amid growing calls for party leader Nobuyuki Baba's resignation following the party's poor showing in Sunday's general election.
The party plans to formally decide as early as Wednesday whether to hold a leadership election.
Acknowledging the party's disappointing result in the House of Representatives election, Baba said at Thursday's party executive meeting that it was "entirely my responsibility." The party saw its number of Lower House seats drop by five, from 43 to 38.
At the same time, Baba expressed his eagerness to stay on as party chief, saying, "I hope to continue working with you all to have more colleagues and increase our influence in national and regional politics."
In the recent election, Nippon Ishin won all 19 single-seat constituencies in Osaka Prefecture, but didn't win any in eastern Japan. It also received about 3 million fewer votes under the proportional representation system than in the previous Lower House election in 2021.
Under its rules, the party must hold an extraordinary convention within 45 days of the election to decide whether to hold a party leadership election.
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