Tokyo: Former Japanese House of Representatives Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda died at a hospital in Tokyo on Friday morning. He was 79.

The native of Matsue, Shimane Prefecture in western Japan, served as secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and as the government’s chief cabinet secretary before becoming speaker of the all-important lower chamber of Japan’s parliament.

Hosoda graduated from the University of Tokyo’s faculty of law and worked for the then international trade and industry ministry.

After serving as a secretary to his father, the late Lower House lawmaker Kichizo Hosoda, he won his first parliamentary seat from the then Shimane Prefecture constituency in the 1990 Lower House election. Hosoda was elected 11 times in a row.

Hosoda gained his first ministerial portfolio in 2002, when he became minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs in the administration of then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He succeeded Yasuo Fukuda as chief cabinet secretary in 2004, when Fukuda resigned to take responsibility for his failure to pay national pension premiums.

Hosoda also served as the LDP’s parliamentary affairs chief.

During his stint as party secretary-general, the LDP suffered a drubbing in the 2009 Lower House election, which pushed it out of power. Hosoda served as chairman of the LDP General Council on two occasions, once while the party was in opposition and once after it retook the reins of government.

In 2014, Hosoda became head of the LDP’s largest faction, following the appointment of its previous leader, the late Nobutaka Machimura, as Lower House speaker. He supported the administration of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was from the faction.

Hosoda was nicknamed “election professor” for being well-versed in the election system.

He worked to enact in 2016 the election reform legislation aimed at introducing the so-called Adams method, which better reflects population differences, for the distribution of Lower House seats. The move helped alleviate vote-value disparities among constituencies.

Hosoda assumed the role of Lower House speaker in 2021, but resigned last month due to poor health. He has been criticized by opposition lawmakers for failing to explain his attendance at an event linked to a controversial religious group known as the Unification Church.

“I want to send my sincere condolences,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters Friday. “I received advice (from Hosoda). I’m grateful that we had a close relationship.”

JIJI Press