Photo/Illutration LDP lawmaker Taro Aso speaks at a meeting of his faction at a hotel in Yokohama on Sept. 3. (Yuta Ogi)

Taro Aso, supreme adviser of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is seeking an early LDP leadership election, putting additional pressure on Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to resign over the Upper House election results.

At a Sept. 3 meeting in Yokohama of the LDP faction that he heads, Aso, a former prime minister, emphasized the need for the party to reorganize its structure before the next Lower House election.

“It’s clear that the party suffered a crushing defeat in the Upper House election,” Aso told the faction members.

He then said he has decided to sign and submit a petition to party headquarters, demanding a snap election for the LDP presidency, which Ishiba currently holds.

Aso said the faction members will not be obliged to sign the petition.

“In order for the party to move forward in unity, each member must make a careful decision on their own,” Aso said. “Each member is held accountable for their political actions.”

With Ishiba as prime minister, the ruling coalition lost its majority in the Upper House in July and in the Lower House in October last year.

Calls persist within the LDP for Ishiba to step down to take responsibility for those losses. But he has shown no clear signs that he will resign.

The Aso faction has 43 members, and those in favor of holding an early party election are expected to submit their signatures to LDP headquarters on Sept. 8.

Momentum is already building within the Aso faction.

Faction member Shunichi Suzuki, who is chairman of the LDP General Council, has told Ishiba that he would step down from the party executive post.

Another faction member, Hiroaki Saito, who is state minister of finance, said on social media that Ishiba should take political responsibility.

Aso, who is not particularly close to Ishiba, has long been an influential figure within the party. LDP members from both inside and outside the faction could be affected by his move.