Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was forced to make concessions to his coalition leader on Friday to pursue his goal of political funding reform after coordination between the ruling parties failed.
However, some members of Prime Minister Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party have criticized him for making too many concessions to Komeito as he seeks to boost the cabinet’s approval rating, which has fallen to its lowest level since the party was launched in October 2021.
Earlier this month, the Komeito party, which runs on the slogan “clean politics,” rejected the LDP’s proposed revisions to the Political Funds Control Law, saying Kishida was not serious about reforming the law despite his recent fundraising scandals.
Kishida met with Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi at the prime minister’s office on Friday. Yamaguchi told reporters that Kishida had “made a major decision” that “paves the way for the implementation of the revised law.”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) and Komeito Party leader Natsuo Yamaguchi met at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo on May 31, 2024. (Kyodo)
The agreement between the two men is expected to prepare the way for the passage of a bill to revise the Political Funds Control Act, a campaign pledge made by LDP President Kishida, during the Diet session on June 23.
Critics say the Political Funds Control Act, which has been revised many times since the financial scandal involving LDP lawmakers came to light, still has loopholes that allow politicians to maintain slush funds.
Late Friday, Kishida signed a memorandum of understanding with Nobuyuki Baba, leader of the Japan Restoration Party, the country’s second-largest opposition party, on the LDP’s proposed revisions to the Political Funds Control Law.
But other opposition parties are calling for more radical changes to the law, such as a ban on corporate donations to political parties and the introduction of a chain of responsibility system that would allow lawmakers to be punished if their staff are found guilty.
The conservative Liberal Democratic Party does not have a majority in the upper house. The Komeito Party, backed by Japan’s largest lay Buddhist group, formed a coalition with the LDP from 1999 to 2009 before regaining power in 2012.
The Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power for most of the time since 1955, has come under scrutiny after factions within the party allegedly failed to report some of the income from fundraising parties and accumulated slush funds for years.
Under current law, the names of people who buy party tickets worth up to 200,000 yen do not have to be included in political funding reports. The LDP has proposed lowering the threshold to 100,000 yen.
Yamaguchi told reporters on Friday that Kishida said the LDP was considering lowering the threshold to 50,000 yen, as requested by Komeito, in order to increase transparency in how political funds are used.
The LDP is being asked to revise its rules on reporting how money is used, as “policy activity expenses” paid by political parties to party executives are not made public even when the amount spent runs into the hundreds of millions of yen.
Senior figures in the LDP have been accused of receiving large amounts of policy activity funds. In 2022, the party allocated more than 1.4 billion yen in policy activity funds, of which about 971 million yen was allocated to Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi.
Meanwhile, Kishida confirmed to Baba that he aims to require the disclosure of receipts for all payments made using policy activity funds 10 years after they were spent, and to set an annual spending cap.
Related article:
The LDP submits a bill to reform political funding regulations without the Komeito Party
Japan’s PM says he has no plans to dissolve parliament after by-election defeat
FOCUS: Will Kishida lose reelection after by-elections?
