TOKYO – Yukio Edano, the leader of Japan's main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), announced on Tuesday that he will step down from the position he has held since the party's founding four years ago, citing the party's poor performance in the recent general elections. "This happened because of my inadequacy," he said at a party meeting.

"I sincerely apologise to all of the party executives, all of our supporters across the country, and, most importantly, to our colleagues who were not elected." The CDPJ's presence in the 465-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, shrank from 110 to 96 seats under Edano's leadership, Edano.

Even with proportional representation, a number of high-profile CDPJ candidates lost in single-member districts, including heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa in Iwate Prefecture and deputy leader Kiyomi Tsujimoto in Osaka Prefecture. As it unified candidates with other opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, the CDPJ was expected to gain seats (JCP). Edano stated that he will remain in office until the end of the special parliamentary session on November 10th, after which a leadership election will be held.

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