Masayoshi Ohira
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Masayoshi Ōhira (大平 正芳 Ōhira Masayoshi March 12,1910–June 12,1980) was a Japanese politician and the 68th and 69th Prime Minister of Japan from December 7,1978 to June 12,1980.
He was born in Kagawa Prefecture. Late in 1978, Ohira was elected to the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and on December 7 he was appointed Prime Minister, succeeding Takeo Fukuda. He was the first, and so far only, Christian to hold this office. In the general election of 1979, the LDP narrowly failed to win an outright majority, but enough independent members of the Diet joined the party to enable Ohira to remain in office, and he was duly reappointed on November 9 of that year. In May, 1980, however, his government collapsed in a vote of no confidence in the Diet, in which opponents (led by Fukuda) from within his own Liberal Democratic Party abstained. He died of a massive heart attack during the election campaign that followed, and was succeeded by Zenko Suzuki, who led the LDP to its greatest victory in fifteen years, capitalizing on the sympathy vote generated by Ohira's death.
| Preceded by: Takeo Fukuda | Prime Minister of Japan 1978–1980 | Succeeded by: Zenko Suzuki |