The End of Abe Faction

 Seiwa Policy Study Group, known as Abe faction, in Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday declared its dissolution, terminating its forty-five-year history since former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda established it in 1979. After three lawmakers and an accounting manager were indicted with charges on secret political funds raised by parties, Abe faction concluded to dissolve itself and close its office. While the leader of Abe faction, who have also been receiving certain amount of “kickbacks,” attributed the scandal to someone else, some young lawmakers demanded those leaders to make their responsibility clear. 

The faction was established against the rule of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, who opposed Fukuda over LDP hegemony in 1970s. “Seiwa” means clean and peace in Japanese, hoping to promote transparent politics, and implicatively criticizing Tanaka’s politics based on power of money, which had been proved in Lockheed scandal.

 

It was former Premier Jun-ichiro Koizumi who put Seiwa group on the top of power pyramid. Including the time of unilateral rule by Shinzo Abe, Seiwa group enjoyed the leading position in twenty-first century, except during the administration of Democratic Party of Japan. The faction increased its member as much as one hundred under Abe’s leadership.

 

In the last regular meeting of Abe faction, the chair, Ryu Shionoya, apologized to the members, saying “Ending the history of Seiwa group make me feel like my gut is torn apart.” The asset of Abe faction will be settled and the balance, if any, will be donated to public organization for such purpose as relief of Noto Peninsula. However, Shionoya did not make clear about how he recognized the responsibility of the leaders for the consequences of management of fundraising parties.

 

Some members revealed that they did not record the funds received from Abe faction, because the faction instructed them not to report those funds. Some young lawmakers, including Tatsuo Fukuda who is a grandson of the founder of the faction, submitted a resolution that demanded the faction leaders to make their responsibility clear. One of the members requested the leaders resign as lawmakers in the last regular meeting. This is the end of the faction that once exercised invincible power in LDP.

 

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida indicated to the opposition parties in a Diet discussion that the leaders of factions would be responsible for explaining about the scandal, even after they dissolve their factions. Although Abe faction announced that the total amount of their slush funds was ¥676 million on the day before the last regular meeting, LDP began individual inquiries on the scandal. While the biggest faction ended its history, the scandal has not ended.