Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to appoint veteran Lower House member Toshihiro Nikai as chairman of the LDP's General Council, the party's top decision-making body, administration sources said Monday.

Abe is also making arrangements to keep Hakubun Shimomura as education minister and give a ministerial post to LDP Lower House member Yuko Obuchi, 40, the daughter of late former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, when he reshuffles his Cabinet and LDP executive lineup Wednesday.

Abe has been working on the lineup, including a replacement for LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba in his first Cabinet reshuffle since returning to power in December 2012.