Tokyo ? Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Wednesday he would resign, ending a year-old government that has suffered a string of damaging scandals and a humiliating electoral defeat.

Abe, whose support rating has fallen to 30 percent, cited the ruling party’s defeat in July 29 elections for the upper house of parliament, and said he had instructed party leaders to search for a new premier. His LDP still controls the more powerful lower house, which chooses the prime minister.

“In the present situation it is difficult to push ahead with effective policies that win the support and trust of the public,” Abe said in a nationally televised news conference. “I have decided that we need a change in this situation.”

Abe, 52, a nationalist who entered office as Japan’s youngest postwar premier, did not announce a date for his departure from office.