Hiroshi Moriyama

He entered politics in April 1975, when he was first elected to the Kagoshima City Council. He would be on the council for 23 years and served three times as chairman.^[3] He was considered close to Susumu Nikaido, a LDP heavyweight from Kagoshima Prefecture.^[4]

In July 1998, Moriyama was elected as a candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for the Kagoshima at-large district in the House of Councillors election. He would serve as parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Finance from October 2002 to September 2003.^[3]

Shortly before the end of his term in April 2004, Moriyama resigned from the House of Councillors to run in a by-election in Kagoshima 5th district of the House of Representatives, caused by the death of Sadanori Yamanaka [ja]. Moriyama was elected with more than four-fifths of the votes. He opposed the privatization of the postal service pushed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Due to this, he became one of the 33 so-called "postal rebels" who were denied LDP endorsement in the 2005 election, but easily defended his seat as an independent against an LDP "assassin" candidate.^[3][5]

Like many other postal rebels, Moriyama returned the LDP under Koizumi's successor Shinzo Abe in December 2006. In July 2007 he joined the Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai faction led by Taku Yamasaki. In August of the same year he was appointed Senior Vice Minister of Finance and served as such until August 2008. Moriyama served as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the cabinet of Shinzo Abe from October 2015 to August 2016.^[3]

In August 2017 Moriyama was appointed chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee in the LDP. He would serve in this post for more than four years, the longest ever tenure. Moriyama remained when Yoshihide Suga succeeded Abe. He was noted as a close ally of Suga and Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai. Moriyama left his position when Fumio Kishida succeeded Suga in October 2021.^[6]

In December of the same year Moriyama became head of the Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai due to the defeat of the previous head Nobuteru Ishihara in the 2021 House of Representatives election. In August 2022 he was appointed chairman of the Election Strategy Committee in the LDP, putting him in charge of the difficult task of coordinating candidates after a recent redistricting. He served in this position until September 2023, when he was appointed chairman of the General Council.^[6]

After Shigeru Ishiba was elected to succeed Kishida as party president in September 2024, Moriyama was appointed Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party.^[7] Due to his experience in diet affairs and ability to negotiate with opposition parties, Moriyama played an significant role in steering the LDP in its role as a parliamentary minority.^[4][8]

In January 2025, he became chairman of the Japan–China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union.^[4]

After the LDP-Komeito coalition was reduced to a minority in the July 2025 House of Councillors election, there were calls within the party for Ishiba and Moriyama to step down. In early September, after presenting a report on the election, Moriyama announced his intention to resign to take responsibility for the result.^[9]

• Official website Archived 30 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine in Japanese

Political offices
Preceded by Yoshimasa Hayashi	Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 2015–2016	Succeeded by Yūji Yamamoto
Party political offices
Preceded by Wataru Takeshita	Chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee, Liberal Democratic Party 2017–2021	Succeeded by Tsuyoshi Takagi
Preceded by Nobuteru Ishihara	Head of the Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyūkai 2021–2024	Faction disbanded
Preceded by Toshiaki Endo	Chairman of the Election Strategy Committee, Liberal Democratic Party 2022–2023	Succeeded by Yuko Obuchi
	Chairman of the General Council, Liberal Democratic Party 2023–2024	Succeeded by Shun'ichi Suzuki
Preceded by Toshimitsu Motegi	Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party 2024–2025