TOKYO (THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - As the projected results came in on Sunday (Oct 22) night, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike offered a public apology for her party's showing.

"These are very tough results (for Kibo)," said Ms Koike, who is currently in Paris, in an interview broadcast on Japanese TV on Sunday night.

"My words and actions have made people feel uncomfortable," Ms Koike added. "(Kibo's policies) had problems."

Ms Koike is also the leader of Kibo no To (Party of Hope).

Regarding the dismal results, she said: "I must accept them with sincerity."

Meanwhile, Ms Koike plans to decide on the party leadership on Wednesday or later.

She told reporters on Saturday, before leaving for Paris to attend an international conference on the environment, that the party's general meeting of its lawmakers will be held on Wednesday, the day she returns, or at a later point to decide the executive lineup.

Former Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Shinji Tarutoko will serve as the party leader while Ms Koike is abroad.

Secretary-general Tetsuro Fukuyama of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said in a TV programme on Sunday night that the full election results were not yet clear.

Nevertheless, Mr Fukuyama went on to say: "We were able to connect with the public day by day through the assertions of party leader (Yukio Edano) that we would work to restore good politics and move forward, not to the left or to the right.

"I think that's how we were able to fight confidently in the election campaign."