Upper House Election: Moriyama Says He’s Willing to Resign, Will Leave Final Decision to PM Ishiba Following Summary of July Election Defeat

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:55 JST, September 2, 2025

Four Liberal Democratic Party executives expressed their intention to resign from their posts on Tuesday to take responsibility for the defeat in the House of Councillors election in July.

LDP Secretary General Hiroshi Moriyama announced that he is willing to resign from his post but that he would leave it to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, also the LDP president, to make the final decision.

Moriyama, 80, made the remark at a press conference after a general meeting of LDP Diet members from both chambers held in the afternoon. On July 28, he had floated the idea of his resignation at an informal meeting of the party members.

Also on Tuesday, Policy Research Council Chairman Itsunori Onodera, 65, and General Council Chair Shunichi Suzuki informed Ishiba of their intention to resign from their posts. Seiji Kihara, the LDP’s Election Strategy Committee chair, also submitted his resignation to Ishiba.

Earlier on Tuesday, the LDP’s taskforce adopted a summary document reviewing the party’s crushing defeat.

The document, which was reported at the general meeting, said that the LDP will “rebuild the party from the ground up.” It did not mention Ishiba’s and party executives’ responsibility in the election defeat.

As a cause of the defeat, the document pointed to a decline in party support in line with the Cabinet’s low approval ratings, citing a shrinking base of voters who support the LDP. The party failed to solidify this diminished support base, the document said, underscoring that support from younger generations, working-age people up to their 50s and segments of the conservative base had shifted to other parties.

Regarding factors driving voters away from the LDP, the document noted that “the harsh reality is that many citizens remain deeply dissatisfied” over faction-related violations of the Political Funds Control Law.

Regarding cash handouts that the LDP pledged during the campaign period, the document concluded that the party “was unable to counter the opposition party’s easily understandable argument” for a consumption tax cut.

The document also found that the party had been too slow in responding to gaffes related to the Noto Peninsula Earthquake made by an upper house lawmaker during the campaign period, as well as in addressing misinformation spread on social media.

As improvement measures, the document outlined plans to establish a specialized team to break down policies into “messages that resonate with the public” and to strengthen the party’s social media outreach.

“We will work on restarting ourselves as if we’re scrapping what we have and starting fresh, with a firm determination of rebuilding our party from the ground up, and will be reborn as a true national party,” the document read.

With the conclusion of the three-hour general meeting, the party’s presidential election management committee now has the task of confirming whether a presidential election should be held ahead of schedule. Members who support the move will be asked to submit signed and sealed documents by Monday. If a majority of Diet members and representatives of its prefectural branches request the expedited election, it will be held before the expiration of Ishiba’s presidential term.

Ishiba Apologizes for defeat

“I, as the party’s president, am responsible for many [of the party’s candidates] losing, and I can never escape that fact,” Ishiba said in the opening address of the general meeting. “I offer my deepest apologies for my incompetence.”

“It is my duty to make the right decision at the right time,” he added.