Bidding for a fresh start following its crushing defeat in the last election, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party officially picked four-term lawmaker Hidehisa Otsuji to head the party's Upper House caucus Monday.

The 66-year-old was elected without opposition at a caucus meeting. Otsuji's predecessor, Mikio Aoki, had stepped down to take responsibility for the disastrous results of the July 29 House of Councilors election.

First elected to the Upper House in 1989, Otsuji served as health minister under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi from September 2004 to October 2005.