On July 21, the Democratic Party of Japan issued the following statement.

The Democratic Party of Japan suffered a defeat in this 23rd House of Councillors election, permitting the ruling parties to gain a majority and losing a large number of the seats we possessed prior to the dissolution of the chamber. We would like to extend our gratitude to all those around the country who gave their support and encouragement, along with our apologies for our failure to achieve results.

During this election campaign we argued that the elimination of the so-called “twisted Diet” would not lead to a stable political situation, but to the Abe administration running rampant, and that the only force capable of preventing this was the Democratic Party of Japan, acting responsibly as the main opposition party.

However, we were unable to recover the trust of the Japanese people which we lost during our time in government, and did not succeed in communicating the risks posed by a rampant Abe administration with the current trend toward high share prices and a weak yen. Nor were we able to unite the anti-Liberal Democratic Party forces together.

The Democratic Party of Japan takes the judgement of the Japanese people on this occasion very seriously. We will use this defeat as a springboard and make a recovery without fail. Thank you once again to all those who gave us their encouragement and support.