Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida won’t run for a second term as leader of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in September, opening the door for a new party member to take over the post of premier.

Kyodo News and national broadcaster NHK on Wednesday cited government sources as saying Kishida will not run in the LDP race. Kishida is due to hold a news conference at 11:30 a.m., Kyodo reported.

The yen trimmed losses slightly against the dollar following the reports.

Given the LDP’s dominance in parliament, the winner of its leadership race, expected for late September, is virtually assured of becoming the next prime minister.

Support for Kishida has been in decline for months amid voter frustration over his handling of a wide-ranging party slush-fund scandal, ongoing inflation and a slump of the yen. Kishida, who took office nearly three years ago, decided not to run to take responsibility for the political funds issue, Kyodo said.

It is unclear who will replace Kishida as premier, although former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba was the most popular choice in local media surveys.

  - Bloomberg