Prime Minister Fumio Kishida settled for Yoshimasa Hayashi to replace Hirokazu Matsuno as chief Cabinet secretary after his first choice rejected the offer, sources said.

Matsuno was one of four Cabinet ministers from the scandal-hit Abe faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who submitted their letters of resignation to Kishida on Dec. 14.

The others were economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, agriculture minister Ichiro Miyashita, and Junji Suzuki, the internal affairs minister.

Ken Saito, who does not belong to any faction, will replace Nishimura, Tetsushi Sakamoto, a member of the Moriyama faction, will succeed Miyashita, and Takeaki Matsumoto, a member of the Aso faction, will take over Suzuki’s post, the sources said.

Hayashi, a former foreign minister who belongs to the faction that was headed by Kishida until Dec. 7, said on Dec. 14 that Kishida asked for his “firm support.”

But Kishida’s leadership suffered a setback over who should replace Matsuno as the government’s chief spokesman.

In the face of public criticism over the LDP’s factional politics, Kishida intended to appoint a lawmaker who does not belong to any intraparty faction.

He asked Yasukazu Hamada, a former defense minister, to serve as chief Cabinet secretary through a close aide on Dec. 12, sources said.

But Hamada adamantly declined the request, and Kishida had to turn to Hayashi, the sources said.

Kishida was also forced to scale back his game plan to contain the fallout from the scandal.

He initially intended to remove Abe faction members from all Cabinet posts, including senior vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries, who serve as deputies of ministers.

That plan drew a backlash from the Abe faction, the largest in the LDP, and other party members.

While the five senior vice ministers from the Abe faction will be replaced as scheduled, Kishida will let the six parliamentary secretaries decide on whether they will step down.

The Abe faction, once headed by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is suspected of having distributed about 500 million yen ($3.5 million) in revenues from fund-raising parties to member lawmakers over the past five years without reporting the flow of the money in its political fund reports.

Koichi Hagiuda, chairman of the LDP’s Policy Research Council and a senior member of the Abe faction, also submitted a letter of resignation to Kishida on Dec. 14.

“I felt responsible for causing suspicions among the public and political distrust over the accounting practices for fund-raising parties,” Hagiuda told reporters.

While Kishida had intended to dismiss Hagiuda from the party post over the scandal, Hagiuda moved first. He will vacate the LDP policy chief post in late December.

Hagiuda had expressed opposition to Kishida’s plan to remove young Abe faction members from the posts of parliamentary secretaries.

Hiroshige Seko, secretary-general of the LDP’s Upper House caucus and another senior member of the Abe faction, also submitted a letter of resignation on Dec. 14 to Masakazu Sekiguchi, who chairs the general assembly of LDP Upper House members.

At a news conference on Dec. 13, Kishida said he will strive to restore public trust tattered by the financial scandal.

“The LDP as a whole will take united action with a strong sense of crisis,” he said. “I will become a ball of fire to lead the LDP’s efforts to restore public trust.”

But he did not mention any specific measures about reforming the LDP’s intraparty factions or revising the Political Fund Control Law.

Kishida was also asked whether his Cabinet will resign en masse after the fiscal 2024 budget proposal passes the Diet and whether he will run in the LDP leadership election next autumn.

“At this point, I cannot afford to think about the future,” he said. “First of all, I will do my utmost to tackle the issues I have mentioned.”

Earlier in the day, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan submitted a no-confidence motion against the Kishida Cabinet in a Lower House plenary session.

All opposition parties, including the Democratic Party for the People and Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), supported the motion, but it was rejected by the LDP and Komeito, its junior coalition partner.