TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Nobuyuki Baba, head of Japan's second-largest opposition party, has announced his intention not to run in its leadership race scheduled for early next month, following its defeat in the Oct. 27 House of Representatives election.

Calls had been growing for Baba, who became leader of the right-leaning Japan Innovation Party in 2022, to take responsibility for its decline from 43 seats to 38 in the general election.

Baba's replacement as leader could affect the JIP's current stance of not cooperating with the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party, which lost its majority in the 465-seat lower house, analysts said.

The JIP has been trying to bolster its support base beyond the Kansai region centered on Osaka. In a social media post on Wednesday night, Baba said, "It is essential for the Japan Innovation Party to make a fresh start and renew its leadership."

The successor of Baba, who started his political career as a member of the LDP, is slated to be selected at an extraordinary party convention on Dec. 1, with campaigning for the leadership race beginning on Nov. 17.

The JIP, which helped secure the 2025 World Expo for Osaka, won a series of local elections in 2023, but it has recently lost momentum amid criticism over the ballooning costs for the event.

Meanwhile, the LDP's partner, the Komeito party, decided to recommend transport minister Tetsuo Saito as its new leader at a meeting of its central executive committee, following the defeat of incumbent Keiichi Ishii in the snap election.

Komeito, backed by the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai, is expected to formally appoint Saito as chief at its extraordinary party convention on Saturday.

In another development, the ruling and opposition parties have agreed that a special parliamentary session to choose the prime minister, which must be held within 30 days of a lower house election, will convene for four days from Monday, lawmakers said.

Despite the election setback, Ishiba is likely to secure enough support to be reelected as Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is also set to fall short of a majority.

Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the small opposition Democratic Party for the People, has said its lawmakers will vote for him. If a runoff takes place, all votes cast for Tamaki would become invalid, favoring Ishiba, who was elected LDP president in late September.

The DPP quadrupled its seats from seven to 28 in the lower house election. The party plans to begin talks with the LDP and Komeito on Friday, aiming to reach policy-by-policy agreements to avoid a political stalemate.