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TOKYO (Kyodo) – A small but increasingly influential Japanese opposition party decided Wednesday to suspend its leader, Yuichiro Tamaki, for three months following a media report of an extramarital affair.

Tamaki said he accepted the decision of the Democratic Party for the People, which quadrupled its seats to 28 in the 465-member House of Representatives in the Oct. 27 general election. But he ruled out resigning as party chief.

During the suspension period until March 3 next year, Motohisa Furukawa, the acting president, will take over from Tamaki, who was recently involved in policy negotiations with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Some analysts said the suspension could hit the opposition party’s popularity, which could in turn complicate the situation for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s LDP, which now leads a minority government with ally Komeito after the coalition lost its majority in the lower house lost.

“I take the decision seriously,” Tamaki told reporters as he apologized to voters who supported the DPP. He has acknowledged that the report about a secret meeting with a woman in a hotel, published by a magazine last month, was largely accurate.

Tamaki will not be able to hold talks with the LDP and its junior coalition partner over his party’s proposal to raise the income tax threshold, a move aimed at helping households suffering from rising prices of everyday goods.

Ishiba has agreed to revise the threshold, currently set at 1.03 million yen ($6,800), because the ruling bloc needs support from the opposition camp to pass budgets and bills in parliament.