Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday he will continue as prime minister to lead the government and tackle growing economic and security challenges after his ruling bloc suffered a crushing blow in the general election the day before.
Ishiba, head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), described election outcome, wherein the ruling coalition, for the first time in 15 years, lost its majority in the 465-member House of Representatives, as "harsh," while stressing "we cannot afford a political stalemate."
Japan's chief cabinet minister on Monday dismissed proposals on the possible readjustment of the ruling coalition's composition, but sought to borrow policy ideas from the Opposition camp, Xinhua news agency said.
While the LDP was unable to regain its majority with its coalition partner Komeito, Ishiba vowed to fundamentally reform the party to regain voter confidence affected by a slush fund scandal.
The election defeat is mainly because "we failed to address people's suspicion, distrust and anger over the underreporting of political funds and the issue of money in politics," Ishiba said.
The LDP and Komeito won 215 of the 465 seats in the powerful chamber of parliament immediately after Sunday's election. This is a sharp decline from the previous 288 and the first time since 2009 that the LDP-Komeito have lost majority control.
The LDP has got only 191, but the main Opposition group, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan has dramatically gained 148 seats from just 98.
The general secretary of the LDP election strategy chief Shinjiro Koizumi today tendered his resignation owing to the party's awful poll results, local newspapers said.
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