Ex-SDP Leader Seiji Mataichi Dies at 79

Tokyo, Sept. 18 (Jiji Press)--Seiji Mataichi, former leader of the Social Democratic Party, died of sepsis at a hospital in the central Japan city of Toyama on Monday. He was 79 years old.

Mataichi was elected to the House of Councillors under the proportional representation system in 2001, after working for the Toyama prefectural government and serving as a senior official of the Toyama prefectural branch of the All-Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers Union.

He then served three consecutive terms in the Upper House.

In 2018, Mataichi became the SDP's leader after holding other senior party positions including deputy leader.

But in 2019, he announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. He did not run in that year's Upper House election, and stepped down as party leader at the end of his term in 2020.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]