Date of birth: Feb. 17, 1939

LDP faction: Nikai

Electoral district: Lower House; Wakayama No. 3 (eighth term)

Nikai, 69, was chairman of the LDP General Council in Yasuo Fukuda's first administration and was given the post again in August.

He began his political career as a member of the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly in 1975 and advanced to the Diet eight years later.

Nikai left the LDP in 1993 together with Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the opposition-leading Democratic Party of Japan. He became transport minister in 1999 but returned to the LDP in 2003.

In the 2005 general election, he scrambled to field candidates to counter fellow LDP lawmakers opposed to Junichiro Koizumi's postal privatization.

Nikai is known for his strong ties with Chinese leaders, and he accompanied relief supplies to quake-hit Sichuan Province in June.