Head of LDP Tokyo chapter to step down after backing losing candidate in gubernatorial election

The head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Tokyo chapter, Nobuteru Ishihara, said he would resign on Thursday along with other senior members of the party's branch, to account for the loss of an LDP-backed candidate in Sunday's gubernatorial election.

Sources close to the matter said Thursday that Ishihara, who retained his portfolio as economics minister in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, and secretary general of the chapter, Shigeru Uchida, would step down following LDP-backed former Iwate Governor Hiroya Masuda losing to Yuriko Koike in the race to become Tokyo governor.

"We have to accept the will of the people. I am painfully aware of my responsibility," Ishihara was quoted as telling a press briefing on the matter earlier.

Abe had described the loss of Masuda to Koike, an LDP member who ran as an independent in the election race, as blow to the party, but offered his congratulations and showed his willingness Thursday to work with her on upcoming issues pertaining to the nation's economy and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the pair's first meeting since Koike became governor.

Ishihara is the son of former outspoken Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, who was responsible for straining ties between Tokyo and Beijing for using public funds to supposedly "purchase" some islands owned by China and central to an ongoing territorial dispute between both countries.

Nobuteru Ishihara had previously thrown his name into the ring as an LDP candidate for the 2014 gubernatorial election in Tokyo, but performed poorly and the top post was thereafter won by the recently disgraced Yoichi Masuzoe.

Masuzoe resigned as governor recently following a massive funding scandal and has been replaced by Koike. Endit