Komeito picks land minster Tetsuo Saito as new party leader

Komeito, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s coalition partner, on Saturday selected land minister Tetsuo Saito as its new leader to replace Keiichi Ishii, who lost his House of Representatives seat in October’s general election for the lower chamber of parliament.
Following Komeito’s setback in the Oct. 27 Lower House election, Saito, 72, is set to accelerate work to rebuild the party ahead of next summer’s elections for the Tokyo metropolitan assembly and the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament. Ishii became Komeito leader only on Sept. 28.
Also at Saturday’s extraordinary Komeito convention in Tokyo, approval was given for Secretary-General Makoto Nishida, 62, and policy chief Mitsunari Okamoto, 59, to retain their posts in the party.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, also LDP president, is expected to accept Komeito’s request that Hiromasa Nakano, a 46-year-old Komeito lawmaker in the Lower House, be appointed land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister to succeed Saito.
Saito has been elected to the Lower House 11 times. Komeito suffered a major setback in the October general election, seeing the number of its Lower House seats drop to 24 from 32 before the election.