Natsuo Yamaguchi, the former leader of Komeito, said Thursday that he will not run for a constituency seat in next summer’s House of Councillors election.
Speaking to reporters, the 72-year-old did not say whether he will aim to secure a proportional representation seat in the upper chamber of parliament or retire from politics.
Yamaguchi won a seat in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, in 1990. He is serving his fourth term as an Upper House lawmaker from the Tokyo prefectural constituency, after first securing the seat in 2001.
He served as the chief of Komeito, the Liberal Democratic Party’s junior partner, for 15 years until September this year.
The party’s internal rules stipulate that lawmakers who are over 69 years old or who have been serving for more than 24 years will not receive the party’s official backing in an election, in principle.
