Political Reform Passes Deadline

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba failed in implementing his words that he would conclude the reform of political donation from companies and organizations. While the opposition parties except Democratic Party for the People (DPP) agreed on banning all those donations, the leading coalition, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito with support of the DPP, insists on preserving their source of political funds. Keeping majority in the Diet for the donations to remain, Ishiba does not care the delay of discussion over political funds.

The LDP sank into a quagmire of slush fund scandal last year, the scandal which pushed former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to resignation, and Ishiba faced serious defeat in the general election of the House of Representatives last fall. The parties in the Diet agreed on abolishing “policy activities fund,” which enabled party leaders to spend political fund without disclosing the purpose, in the extraordinary session of the Diet in December. However, they could not find a consensus how donation from companies and organizations should be treated. Ishiba promised that he would conclude the issue by the end of March 2023.

 

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), with Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin-no Kai) and Japan Communist Party, co-sponsored a bill to the Diet, which would prohibit all the donation except ones from political organizations. The LDP, in contrast, upheld its own bill, which paved the way for major companies, such as Toyota or Mitsubishi, to continue their donation to the LDP with certain regulatory conditions.

 

Although Komeito and the DPP took a neutral position, they gradually reached the LDP. Those two parties reached a dealwith the LDP at the end of March, in which parties, their prefectural branches and even small branches headed by individual party members can receive the donations. Komeito and the DPP required the LDP to have stricter regulation on the limit of annual donation for a company or organization and on threshold of disclosing the name of donors and the amount. In return, the LDP gained continuation of donation from companies and organizations which is a lifeline of the party.

 

There is a calculation in the LDP that they can keep a majority in the House of Representatives as long as the DPP is on the side of the leading coalition. There is a speculation that some members of DPP are so dependent on donation from labor union that they are reluctant to regulate the donation.

 

In the recent polls, the DPP has been receiving higher approval rate than the CDPJ enjoys. The CDPJ is disappointed with the DPP’s approach to the LDP. Supposedly, the DPP hopes to achieve further concession in income tax reduction, refusing to join concerted effort of opposition parties to bring Ishiba administration down. Fragmented opposition powers are one of the fundamental reasons why weak Ishiba administration still stands with low approval rate.

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