Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party submitted its own amendment to the Political Funds Management Act to parliament on Friday, after rejecting the party’s proposal to tighten rules related to money in politics.
The Komeito Party and opposition parties have expressed doubts about whether the bill goes far enough to increase the transparency of political funds, and it is unclear whether the bill will be passed by the House of Councilors, where the Liberal Democratic Party does not have a majority.
This disagreement clearly reflects Komeito’s dissatisfaction with the Liberal Democratic Party’s perceived lack of seriousness in pursuing political reform, despite recent fundraising scandals that have seriously undermined public trust in politics. It seems like they are. One of Komeito’s slogans is “clean politics.”
In the Diet on Friday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who leads the Liberal Democratic Party, said the party’s political funding reform plan would be an “effective measure to prevent similar problems from happening again.”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida giving a speech at the plenary session of the House of Councilors in Tokyo on May 17, 2024 (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
He also said he believed the ruling parties were heading in the “same direction” on the issue, but Komeito Secretary-General Keiichi Ishii said at a press conference that while it would be “desirable” to jointly submit a bill, It’s difficult.” The party has no plans to introduce its own bill.
The conservative Liberal Democratic Party has come under intense scrutiny after some factions have failed to report some of their income from fundraising parties and amassed slush funds over the years.
With the Cabinet’s approval rating at its lowest level since its inauguration in October 2021, Kishida promised to revise the Political Funds Control Act by the end of the current Diet session, which ends in June.
Last week, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito reached an agreement in principle on a bill to revise the Political Funds Control Act, including lowering standards for publishing the names of party ticket buyers, but specific standards were not decided upon.
The current bill has been criticized for having loopholes that allow politicians to maintain slush funds, and does not require the names of purchasers of fundraising party tickets worth up to 200,000 yen ($1,280) to be listed on political finance reports.
The Liberal Democratic Party has proposed lowering the threshold to 100,000 yen in its own bill, but the New Komeito Party, which is supported by Japan’s largest lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai, is pushing for 50,000 yen. Komeito has been participating in the coalition government since 2012.
Meanwhile, the ruling party confirmed that senior lawmakers will have to report how they use so-called policy activity funds provided by political parties. The funds will not be subject to disclosure even if the expenditures reach hundreds of millions of yen.
It is suspected that influential members of the Liberal Democratic Party received large amounts of funds for policy activities. In 2022, the party allocated more than 1.4 billion yen in funds, of which approximately 971 million yen was allocated to Secretary-General Toshimitsu Mogi.
Regarding the method of disclosing the use of policy activity funds, the Liberal Democratic Party’s proposal requires members to list nine expenditure items, including “election-related expenses,” without specifying the use.
Komeito is demanding disclosure of all payments with receipts, but Kenta Izumi, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, criticized the Liberal Democratic Party’s proposal for lacking “transparency.”
Diet deliberations on the Liberal Democratic Party bill are scheduled to begin next week.
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