If a snap Lower House election is held next month, one of the candidates may be Osaka Mayor and Japan Restoration Party co-leader Toru Hashimoto.
Asked by reporters Wednesday whether he would run, Hashimoto said he was considering "various options" and that it couldn't be helped if he had to dump his job as mayor.
His comments come as the party's long-touted plan to integrate the city of Osaka into five semiautonomous wards languishes due to opposition in the municipal and prefectural assemblies from Komeito, which had worked with Hashimoto's local party, Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka), to form a majority.