Insufficient Deal of Leading Coalition

Facing public criticisms on the slush fund scandal, Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, reached a rough agreement on reforming regulations over political funds. While they agreed on introducing new rules to make them transparent, both parties failed in concluding some details which would be the fundamental elements to restore public confidence on politics. It is unlikely that the people are going to approve the effort of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and raise their support for him.

After returning the official visit to the United States, Kishida ordered his LDP leaders to accelerate the discussion between LDP and Komeito over the political funds reform. Considering historical low of approval rate for Kishida administration, it seemed indispensable for him to conclude the scandal by passing bills for the reform within this ordinary session of the Diet ending June 23^rd. The secretary generals of both parties have accumulated negotiation for achieving an agreement on the reform.

 

According to the news reports, both parties agreed on lowering the threshold for disclosing the information about who purchased how many tickets of fundraising party from ¥200 thousand. They also agreed on mandating the parties to disclose how “policy activities fund,” which had been hidden, was spent. Concerning the reports that some LDP leaders had transferred money to unregistered political organization, the agreement included a new rule that the transferring ¥10 million or more to such organization for a year should be disclosed.

 

However, the leading coalition has not reached on how much the amount of ticket purchase should be disclosed. Although Komeito argued that ¥50 thousand of ticket purchase needed to be disclosed, LDP did not give in, insisting on the threshold of ¥100 thousand. It is crucial for LDP to keep the secret about which supporter bought how many tickets, because that information affects business of those supporters.

 

LDP and Komeito also opposed on how the policy activities fund would be disclosed. While Komeito demanded each party submission of a list on details of spendings of the fund, LDP proposed disclosure limited to the categories of spendings, raising freedom of political activities. Political activities fund is a kind of money for party leaders to govern their party without disclosure, which includes tax revenue of the government. For LDP, freedom of political activities means freedom of concealing how the tax money is used.

 

The opposition parties opposed to the agreement between LDP and Komeito. Constitutional Democratic Party basically demands banning donation for party by any company or organization. Therefore, CDP requires banning any fundraising party and the policy activities fund. The party is preparing for submitting its bill with Democratic Party for the People to the Diet.

 

Kishida needs to have a deal with Komeito on further details about the bill to submit it and pass the Diet by the end of the session. It is possible for him to extend the term of the Diet session, but it may give the opposite parties chances for offending the administration. Kishida is entering into a phase in which stronger leadership is required.