Hiroshi Kumagai, head of the New Conservative Party, the junior coalition partner of the Liberal Democratic Party, lost his seat in Sunday's general election.

Kumagai, 63, had been seeking re-election to the House of Representatives in the No. 7 district of Shizuoka Prefecture, but trailed independent newcomer Minoru Kiuchi, 38, a former diplomat who received full backing from the LDP's Shizuoka prefectural chapter.

"I received this judgment from the people and I must accept it solemnly," Kumagai said.

"We were simply putting forth our policies (in the campaign) but it feels like a massive tidal wave hit."

Asked about the party's future, he said he will consult with fellow party members and study the outcome of the election before deciding what to do.

Last December, Kumagai, who formerly served as chief Cabinet secretary and as minister of international trade and industry, became chief of the then-new NCP after leaving the Democratic Party of Japan.

He was backed by the LDP and New Komeito -- the other member of the LDP's tripartite coalition -- in the campaign, but that was apparently not enough to give him victory in the four-way race in the single-seat district.

Kumagai, who hails from the Shizuoka town of Misakubo, entered politics with his election to the House of Councilors in 1977 and served six terms in the Lower House after winning a seat there in 1983.

Meanwhile, Takako Doi, chief of the Social Democratic Party and a staunch advocate of the war-renouncing Constitution, lost her re-election bid in her single-seat constituency.

Despite losing in her own constituency, Doi, 74, has secured a seat in the proportional representation bloc in the Kinki region. Doi tops the party's candidate list there.

The veteran politician was vying for her 12th Lower House term for Hyogo Prefecture's No. 7 constituency. She was trailing Shigeo Omae, 61, a rookie candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party and a former Hyogo Prefecture Assembly member.

The other candidate and another political newcomer was Keiko Isomi, 46, of the Japanese Communist Party. She was also an assembly member.

Known as the first woman speaker of the Lower House in modern political history, Doi won her first Lower House election in 1969. She was speaker from 1993 to 1996.

Even if she gets a seat through proportional representation, losing in a single-seat constituency means a huge loss of political clout for a politician of her stature.

Long before the runup to the election, the future of Doi's party and her own political career had appeared shaky in the wake of a financial scandal involving Kiyomi Tsujimoto, a former high-profile SDP politician.