Japan opposition leader to quit over defeat in parliament vote

The leader of Japan’s opposition party the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Banri Kaieda, says he will step down from his position after losing his seat in the recent parliamentary elections.

Kaieda announced his resignation on Monday after he lost in the single-seat electoral district in Tokyo in the votes for the Japanese parliament’s lower house on Sunday.

“I deeply regret that we were not able to respond to the voices of people who hoped to reduce the number of seats for the ruling parties,” Kaieda said.

In the Sunday polls, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition won 326 seats, while Kaieda’s DPJ only got 73 seats.

“The DPJ is still on its way to restoration and we will face a long uphill battle before receiving people’s mandate. But we pledge we will come back in the next battle as a party that would be able to take a role in a two-party system,” the opposition party said in a statement.

Meanwhile Abe said the vote was a referendum on his economic policies known as Abenomics. The ruling and opposition parties have been in disagreement over the premier’s policies.

Abe was elected two years ago on a platform of revitalizing the economy, but he has been unsuccessful so far.

According to data released on November 17, Japan’s economy, the world’s third largest, slipped back into recession for a second consecutive quarter this year. Japan had come out of its last recession in 2012.