17 Facts About Muneo Suzuki

Muneo Suzuki, commonly known simply as "Muneo" due to his common last name, is a Japanese politician from Ashoro, Hokkaido, currently serving as a member of the House of Councillors since 2019, representing the National PR block.

Muneo Suzuki graduated from the Department of Political Science at Takushoku University in 1970, and before he graduated he began working for Ichiro Nakagawa, a Japanese member of the House of Representatives.

Suzuki hoped to run for his seat, but Ichiro's son Shoichi Nakagawa, a Tokyo native, moved to Hokkaido to run for his father's seat, and Suzuki successfully ran for a seat in a neighboring district.

Muneo Suzuki was elected in December 1983 as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Muneo Suzuki was appointed Head of the Hokkaido Development Agency and the Okinawa Development Agency in 1997 and later as Vice Minister of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.

In 1999, while Suzuki was the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary to the former Prime Minister Obuchi, he pressured the Foreign Ministry to fund the Japanese-Russia Friendship House, which became a scandal in 2002 when it was revealed.

Muneo Suzuki left the LDP in 2002 and was arrested later that year for suspicion of accepting bribes from two Hokkaido companies.

Muneo Suzuki did not run for reelection in the 2003 elections on the stated grounds that he was undergoing surgery to treat stomach cancer.

Muneo Suzuki remained free and in office as he appealed the conviction.

Muneo Suzuki was defeated, but ran successfully for the House of Representatives of Japan in the 11 September 2005 elections after forming the New Party Daichi.

Muneo Suzuki is the only elected member of the party.

Muneo Suzuki would be banned from running for public office for five years after completion of the prison sentence.

Muneo Suzuki was paroled on 6 December 2011 after serving one year in prison in Tochigi Prefecture.

Muneo Suzuki ran in the 2017 general election as the head of the NPD list for the Hokkaido PR block but was not elected.

Muneo Suzuki ran again in the 2019 House of Councillors election on the National PR list for the Nippon Ishin no Kai.

Muneo Suzuki won the most votes on the party's list and was thus elected for the first time since being removed from office in 2010.

On 11 October 2023, Muneo Suzuki resigned from Nippon Ishin no Kai following calls for his expulsion from the party after he visited Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.