Japan's Top Ruling Party Officials to Resign

TOKYO – A top official in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party says that he and other officials plan to step down from their posts over its apparent crushing defeat in parliamentary elections.

LDP Secretary-General Hiroyuki Hosoda said Sunday that he and two other top officials plan to submit their resignations to Prime Minister Taro Aso, who serves as president of the party.

Hosoda's comments came as Japan's left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan appeared to have won a landslide election victory, according to media projections, sending the LDP to defeat after 54 years of nearly unbroken rule amid widespread economic anxiety and desire for change.