大島衆院議長、在職最長に　「国会の機能果たす」

　大島理森衆院議長（７４）は１２日、在職日数が２０３０日となり、河野洋平氏を抜いて歴代単独１位となった。大島氏は１１日の記者会見で「議会制民主主義の改善に努力しつつ、国会の機能を十全に果たしていけるよう、職責を全うしていかなければならない」と語った。
　大島氏は青森２区選出の当選１２回。農林水産相や自民党幹事長などを歴任し、２０１５年４月に衆院議長に就任した。（2020/12/12-00:11）

House of Representatives Speaker Tadamori Oshima became the longest-serving head of the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, on Saturday.
   Oshima, from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has been in the post for 2,030 days, passing Yohei Kono, who served as Lower House speaker for 2,029 days.
   "I must fulfill my duties so that the Diet can fully perform its functions, while making efforts to improve on representative democracy," Oshima, 74, told a press conference on Friday.
   Oshima, whose constituency is in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, has been elected to the Lower House 12 times. He became Lower House speaker in April 2015. Previously, Oshima served in such posts as agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister, and secretary-general and vice president of the LDP.
   He called for talks among ruling and opposition parties to address the issue of a debate among party leaders not being held at the Diet since June last year, saying, "If there need to be improvements (in the way that debates are conducted), it should be improved, and such efforts are necessary."