Kimitaka Fujino will fill the House of Councilors seat vacated by Takeshi Kondo, the national election board said Tuesday. Both Fujino and Kondo, who was recently appointed president of Japan Highway Public Corp., are members of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Fujino will assume the post Wednesday. His term will run until July 28, 2007.

Fujino, 55, is a former senior bureaucrat in the transport ministry.