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TOKYO -Toshiba Corp's former board chairman lost his bid for re-election last week with 56% of votes cast against him, according to a breakdown of the results that marked a watershed moment for corporate governance in Japan.

Voting participation at the annual general meeting was particularly high at more than 80%, and there were few abstentions with votes in favour at 43.7%.

The ouster of Osamu Nagayama follows an explosive independent investigation released this month that found Toshiba colluded with the trade ministry to block foreign shareholders from gaining influence at last year's annual general meeting.

Although Nagayama had only joined the board in mid-2020, critics argued he had to step down to take responsibility for the board's resistance to address the allegations that overseas investors had been pressured.

Shareholder advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services Inc and Glass Lewis had recommended against his reappointment.

But his supporters say his failure to win re-election will only set back Toshiba further, depriving the industrial conglomerate, which has lurched from crisis to crisis since an accounting scandal in 2015, of an experienced leadership.

CEO Satoshi Tsunakawa was appointed as interim chairman. Tsunakawa retook the CEO position in April after Toshiba's previous chief executive left, but Tsunakawa has said he does not plan to stay for too long.

Toshiba had initially put forward 13 nominees for the board. It withdrew two after the release of the investigators' report. Friday's AGM saw Nagayama and one other director voted out while another, a confidante of Nagayama, resigned leaving Toshiba with eight newly elected directors.

The new board has said it will be looking for a candidate to succeed Tsunakawa and will also consider additional candidates to serve on the board with the help of one or more global executive search firms.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)