Former ruling Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Akira Amari, known as a close aide to the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said Saturday that he will not run in the next general election.

Speaking to reporters in his former constituency in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo, however, he expressed his intention to continue political activities to address issues in areas such as economic security, rather than retiring from politics.

Amari, 75, who was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1983, failed to secure a seat in the Oct. 27 election, in which Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's LDP and its junior coalition partner, the Komeito party, lost their majority in the lower chamber.

While holding several ministerial posts, Amari actively championed the "Abenomics" stimulus policy package, centered on drastic monetary easing, during his tenure for about three years from 2012 as economic and fiscal policy minister in Abe's government.

But he stepped down as the minister in 2016 amid graft allegations against his secretaries.