Former Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii has announced that he will not run in the next Lower House election.

"I thought it was natural to hand over the seat to the next (generation) at the earliest opportunity," Shii told a news conference at the Diet building in Tokyo on Friday.

Shii was succeeded by Tomoko Tamura as JCP leader in 2024.

He said he will continue to serve as chairman of the JCP's Central Committee.

Born in Chiba Prefecture, Shii became head of the JCP secretariat in 1990 at the age of 35. He served as the party's leader for 23 years from 2000, the longest tenure in JCP history, before assuming the post of chair of the Central Committee in January 2024.

Soft-spoken, he was seen as a symbol of a realistic and flexible approach within the party.

Shii was first elected to the Lower House in 1993 from the former No. 1 constituency in Chiba. After the shift to the single-seat constituency system, he ran as an independent candidate in the southern Kanto proportional representation bloc. He has been elected to the Lower House 11 times in a row.

In 2015, he proposed forming a coalition government aimed at abolishing national security-related laws.

He advocated joint efforts by opposition parties to establish a coalition government.

In 2016, Shii and other party executives attended the opening ceremony of a Diet session for the first time, at which then-Emperor Akihito, now holding the title of Emperor Emeritus, delivered a speech.

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