A Lower House member from a ruling party faction led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida quit the party Friday over a magazine report that he went out for drinks with an 18-year-old girl and gave her ¥40,000 ($300), according to party sources.

The drinking age in Japan is 20, and the latest revelation involving third-term lawmaker Takeru Yoshikawa comes at a delicate time for Kishida and the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito ahead of a July Upper House election.

It marks the first time an LDP Diet member has resigned due to allegations of misconduct since the Kishida administration took office last October.