Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced his resignation Sunday to avoid a split of his Liberal Democratic Party after recent election defeats.
"Today, I have decided resign from the position of President of Liberal Democratic Party," Ishiba posted in a brief message on social media.
Ishiba, in a news conference carried by public broadcaster NHK, said he had decided to resign from the post now that negotiations with the administration of President Donald Trump over tariffs had ended.
"I thought a decisive division within the party could be created if the issue of an extraordinary presidential election continued to develop. That is not what I wanted," Ishiba said in the news conference.
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