Nobuteru Ishihara, head of the Liberal Democratic Party's Tokyo chapter, said Thursday that he will resign from the post, following the defeat of the candidate the ruling party backed in last Sunday's gubernatorial election.
Ishihara, who was retained as economic and fiscal policy minister in Wednesday's Cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will quit his post at the party's branch along with other senior officials including Shigeru Uchida, secretary-general of the chapter.
The candidate, former Iwate Gov. Hiroya Masuda, was defeated by Yuriko Koike, who was a House of Representatives lawmaker with the LDP until she ran for governor without the party's backing.
Ishihara told a news conference Tuesday: "We have to accept the will of the people. I am painfully aware of my responsibility."