OSAKA -- The Osaka High Court on Monday nullified the 1996 election of a Diet member from the Liberal Democratic Party and barred him from running for office in the same constituency for five years, after his secretary was convicted of buying votes.

Minoru Noda, 61, who was first elected in 1990, is the second Diet member -- and the first elected under proportional representation -- to be found guilty by association under the revised Public Offices Election Law.

The law was revised in 1994 to bar lawmakers from elections in the same constituency for five years if relatives, secretaries or other key election campaigners are convicted of violating the election law.