Yoshihide Suga

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Yoshihide Suga (菅 義偉, Suga Yoshihide^?, b. December 6, 1948) is a Japanese politician who had served as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications in the cabinet of Shinzo Abe until August 2007.

He was born in Ogachi (now Yuzawa), Akita Prefecture and obtained an LL.B. from Hosei University in Tokyo. He served as a secretary to Diet member Hikosaburo Okonogi for eleven years, then as secretary to the Minister of International Trade and Industry in 1984 and later as a member of the Yokohama city council.

Suga was elected to the Diet of Japan in 1996. Originally a member of the Obuchi faction, he left the faction after refusing to support Obuchi in the 1998 party elections. He also refused to participate in the no confidence motion against Yoshiro Mori in 2000.

He was appointed to his current post on September 26, 2006.