Photo/Illutration Former Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga is expected to be the next Lower House speaker. (Koichi Ueda)

Ruling party lawmakers were nearing an agreement on having former Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga replace outgoing Lower House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda, senior officials of the Liberal Democratic Party said Oct. 13.

Nukaga, 79, was first elected to the Lower House in 1983 after serving two terms in the Ibaraki prefectural assembly. He is currently in his 13th term as a Lower House member.

He held the posts of Defense Agency chief and finance minister in the 1990s and 2000s.

Between 2009 and 2018, Nukaga led an LDP faction now headed by Toshimitsu Motegi, the party’s powerful secretary-general.

Hosoda’s resignation, due to health issues, was officially accepted at the Lower House’s Rules and Administration Committee on Oct. 13.

Nukaga is expected to be elected as the new speaker on Oct. 20, when an extraordinary Diet session is convened.

Hosoda, 79, said he was experiencing early signs of a stroke, and that his condition “may make it difficult for me to serve in the speaker’s role.”

However, he will remain as a lawmaker and suggested he will run in the next Lower Houser election.

“I feel a bit shaky, but I’m still able to contribute to the Diet,” Hosoda said on Oct. 13.

He said his experience and expertise in fields such as nuclear power and energy cannot be easily replaced.

Hosoda also dismissed speculation that he was pressured to resign after reports surfaced about his long association with the Unification Church, now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

“Some say the Unification Church issue is related (to my resignation), but it’s not true,” he said. “I did have a relationship with the church, but they just invited me to some parties, and that’s it.”

The religious organization returned to the spotlight after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot in 2022 by a man whose family went bankrupt because of his mother’s huge donations to the church.

After the shooting, it came to light that a number of lawmakers, including Abe and Hosoda, had questionable ties with the religious group.

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