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.

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