Nippon Ishin no Kai, which saw its seat count nearly quadruple in the Oct. 31 Lower House election, decided to keep Ichiro Matsui on as leader after deciding not to hold a presidential election at an extraordinary party convention in Osaka on Saturday.
“I had the thought of passing things off to supporters, but was told to remain in the lead a bit longer,” Matsui, also the mayor of Osaka, said following the convention.
But the Osaka-based national political party, now the third largest in parliament with 41 seats after the general election, still faces the challenge of finding an eventual replacement for Matsui, 57, one of the co-founders of Nippon Ishin.