Political Fund Still Matters in Election

As it was the top issue in the last Lower House election last year, regulation of political donation is one of the main issues in the Upper House election on July 20th. The slush fund scandal in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) revealed false management of political fund. The opposition parties demand stricter regulation on it. It is possible that reform of political fund has crucial impact on the election again.

The slush fund scandal in the LDP, which was revealed by a charge of a professor, gave a fatal damage on the party which had heavily been relied on secret funds raised through fundraising parties. As election campaigns were eventually been operated through internet, the scandal indicated that the LDP had been approaching voters by selling party tickets. The buyers were expecting some returns from the party which controlled national politics. That was old type of politics, on which ordinary voters were embracing fundamental skepticism.

 

The LDP tried to fix the problem by setting higher standard for political funds. It led a discussion for prohibiting political fund without mandate of disclosing how it was used. However, the LDP rigorously opposed banning donation from companies and organizations, which were lifeline for the party. The LDP once agreed on abolition of that kind of funds in 1990s when inappropriate connection between the party and major corporations invited big scandals.

 

In the ordinary session of the Diet this year, the five opposition parties, including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin-no Kai), co-sponsored a bill which would ban the donation from companies and organizations. Although the leading coalition of the LDP and Komeito did not have power to dismiss it, the bill did not pass the Diet, because the Democratic Party for the People did not join the effort of the opposition parties.

 

Although Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba promised that he would conclude the issue by the end of March 2025, the parties could not reach an agreement on revision of Political Funds Control Act. The LDP insisted that it would pursue disclosure of political donation than prohibition. As predicted, the LDP is facing a headwind in the campaign of the Upper House election on this issue.

 

In the survey conducted by Asahi Shimbun, 86 percent of the candidates fielded by the CDPJ and 89 percent of Ishin’s candidates advocated total ban of donation from companies and organizations. The percentage of candidates from the LDP who agreed on total elimination of those donations was zero. It seems to be hard for the lawmakers with the LDP to maintain their political activities without donation from companies that expect connection with the leading party.

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