Tamisuke Watanuki, former secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, was elected speaker of the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Watanuki, head of the LDP's largest faction, formerly led by the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, gained 286 of the 479 votes cast in a Lower House poll held at the outset of a three-day special Diet session convened Tuesday.
He was nominated by the LDP, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party, the ruling coalition which holds a comfortable majority in the 480-member lower chamber.