自民・塩崎氏が衆院選不出馬　第１次安倍内閣で官房長官

　官房長官などを歴任した自民党の塩崎恭久衆院議員（７０）＝愛媛１区＝は１９日、松山市で記者会見し、次期衆院選に出馬しない意向を表明した。事実上の政界引退。新型コロナウイルス対策の体制強化などこれまで取り組んできた課題にめどが立ち、政治活動に一定の区切りが付いたことが主な理由という。
　２００６年発足の第１次安倍内閣で官房長官に就任。第２、第３次安倍内閣の１４～１７年には厚生労働相を務めた。後継は党愛媛県連を中心に公募を実施して決める。
　日銀勤務を経て、父潤氏（元総務庁長官、故人）の旧愛媛１区の地盤を引き継いで１９９３年の衆院選で初当選。いったん参院議員に転じ、００年に再び衆院にくら替えし、これまで計８回当選した。
　９８年の金融危機に際して与野党の若手と金融再生法成立に奔走し、「政策新人類」として注目された。その頃、同世代である自民党の根本匠元厚労相、安倍晋三前首相、石原伸晃元幹事長と、姓の頭文字を取って命名した派閥横断グループ「ＮＡＩＳ（ナイス）の会」を結成した。かつては宏池会（現岸田派）に属したが、最近は無派閥。（2021/06/19-20:14）

Former Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Saturday that he has decided not to run in the next House of Representatives election, which will take place by autumn.
   This effectively means that Shiozaki, a 70-year-old member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, will retire from politics.
   At a news conference in the western city of Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Shiozaki said he has virtually finished what he was working on, such as enhanced measures to fight the novel coronavirus.
   A former Bank of Japan official, Shiozaki became chief cabinet secretary in then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first cabinet formed in 2006. Also under Abe, Shiozaki served as health minister between 2014 and 2017.
   Shiozaki made a political debut in 1993, when he was elected to the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, from an Ehime constituency that his father, Jun, former head of a predecessor of the internal affairs ministry, used to represent.