Ishiba Excludes Lawmakers in Scandal from Party Endorsement

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced that he would not issue official endorsement to a part of lawmakers, who were involved in the slush fund scandal of the Liberal Democratic Party, in next general election of the House of Representatives scheduled to be voted on October 27. All the candidates who failed in reporting the secret fund will not be on the list of proportional districts. The candidates who are suffering from the penalty firmly oppose to the decision of new president of the party. 

The LDP found that 85 lawmakers and former lawmakers who were planning to run for next election had failed in reporting political fund secretly received from Abe or Nikai faction. 54 out of 85 were the members, or possible candidates, of House of Representatives. 5 out of 54 have left the party or not running in next election. So, Ishiba considered whether he would issue party endorsement to the rest of 49 possible candidates.

 

The internal rule of LDP stipulates eight kinds of punishments and excluding from official endorsement is ranked at the fourth. 3 out of those 49 had already received punishment harder than exclusion from official endorsement. Other 3 received lighter punishment than losing official endorsement, but they did not attend the Political Ethics Council in the Diet. Ishiba decided to exclude those 6 lawmakers from official endorsement, recognizing them as highly responsible for the slush fund scandal.

 

Those 6 lawmakers include 3 out of “five guys” in Abe faction, who were designated as new leaders: former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura, former LDP Chairperson of Policy Research Council Koichi Hagiuda, and former Chairperson of LDP Diet Affairs Committee Tsuyoshi Takagi. A veteran lawmaker who was close to Shinzo Abe, Hakubun Shimomura, was also among those 6.

 

One significance of Ishiba’s decision was excluding all the 49 members from the list of proportional districts. If a candidate loses in local electoral district, the candidate can still secure a seat, if he or she were on the party’s list of proportional district. Most LDP candidates have been on the list in the previous elections. If those lawmakers are dropped from the list, they will lose their seat immediately when they lose in local districts.

 

Ishiba introduced that severe punishment after he realized unexpectedly severe criticisms against the LDP among the voters all over Japan. In the polls, a large number of voters watch closely at how the LDP is handling the slush fund scandal, which details are still not disclosed completely. It is likely that the LDP will receive severe consequence, if it put a period on the slush fund scandal with halfway measures.

 

However, the strict punishment may leave fundamental resentment among the lawmakers with former Abe faction. Ishiba embraces a risk of internal antagonism in the LDP, even after the general election of the House of Representatives.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amendment of Local Autonomy Law

The House of Representatives started discussion on revision of the Local Autonomy Law, which would vest the national government a power to instruct local government in an emergency. It may change the relationship between the national and local government, which has been recognized as equal. The opposition parties oppose the amendment, arguing that it would give the national government an excessive power.   With the Meiji Restoration, the national government abolished the feudal system, introducing modern governance. However, its autonomy was not sufficient. The governor of each prefecture was appointed by the national government. The local governments subordinated to the national government. It was as late as 2000 when  the Comprehensive Decentralization Law  was enacted and the relationship between the national and local government was defined as equal.   The national government found inconvenience in the relationship between the national and local government, when ...
Read more

Request for Final Nuclear Disposal Site

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry requested Genkai Town, Saga, to accept “literature survey” for building a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste. Genkai is going to answer within this month. If it accepts, it will be the third place to accept that survey, following two places in Hokkaido. Main reason to accept the survey is supposed to be subsidy from the national government.   Japan has no final disposal site. Among all 54 reactors in 17 nuclear power generation plant, 12 reactors of 6 plants are operating. The rest of them are not in operation, some of which are determined to be decommissioned. Used nuclear fuels are stocked in each plant, 　 or have sent to a reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori. There are two plans to stock nuclear wastes in the intermediate facility for disposal, one is already built and another is still in negotiation.   Nuclear Fuel Final Disposal Act in 2000 determines to bury nuclear waste in the underground. Literature survey, ...
Read more

Not A Royal Wedding

The bride called her husband an indispensable existence and their marriage was necessary choice to protect their mind. The groom insisted on his life as only once and his right to be with his loved one. Her father wanted his daughter’s marriage to be celebrated by the people. The people were not sure whether the family was happy as a whole. Is this the traditional Japanese social system that makes no one happy? Mako Komuro, as known as Princess Mako during her life in one of the royal family Akishino, held on Tuesday a press conference with her husband Kei Komuro, right after submitting marriage report to local government. It was something different from ordinary Q&A session, because Mako was afraid of her mental uneasiness brought by some questions not based on truth. So, the event was actually one-sided speech to the reporters. Mako emphasized that the Kei’s decision of studying abroad five years ago had not been his original idea, but a result of her request to establish an over...
Read more