Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto said Saturday he will not run in the Sept. 11 general election and will retire from politics due to poor health.
"My health is not good and I can no longer work as a politician," Hashimoto, 68, told supporters in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. "Thank you so much for having supported me."
Hashimoto served 14 times as a Liberal Democratic Party member in the House of Representatives and was prime minister from January 1996 to July 1998.
His second son, Gaku, 31, will run on the LDP ticket in Hashimoto's Okayama No. 4 district in the upcoming House of Representatives election.