Japan's lower house passes political funds reform bill amid backlash
Following weeks of fraught inter-party negotiations, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's LDP finally mapped out the revised bill. But it does not reflect requests by opposition parties, such as the introduction of guilt by association, which could punish lawmakers if their staff members are convicted.
Opposition lawmakers have also lambasted it for leaving many loopholes and have cast doubt on whether it will strengthen transparency in the use of money by politicians -- all this as a fundraising scandal continues to damage the prime minister's popularity.
The law is expected to be enacted during the ongoing parliamentary session through June 23, as Kishida tries to regain the public's trust and tighten the party's grip on power with an election on the horizon.
Kishida told reporters later in the day at the prime minister's office that the bill has "made clear" the LDP's stance on political funds reform.
But Kenta Izumi, leader of the left-leaning main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, described the LDP-proposed bill as a "failure," saying, "It is out of the question" as the LDP's sincerity in addressing the rules on political funds has been met with widespread skepticism.
The envisioned changes to the rules will impede The LDP's fundraising abilities, with Kishida facing criticism within the party for conceding too much to its junior coalition partner the Komeito party in an attempt to salvage his plummeting Cabinet approval ratings.
Public support for Kishida, who is seeking reelection in the LDP's presidential race around September, has hit its lowest level since his Cabinet was launched in October 2021, causing speculation that he has given up on dissolving the lower house for a snap election in the near future.
Late last month, Komeito, whose slogan is "clean politics," rejected the LDP's original proposals to amend the law. The LDP was then forced to submit its own bill to the Diet, but Kishida later reached an agreement on a revised version with Komeito.
The conservative LDP does not hold a majority in the House of Councillors. Komeito, backed by Japan's biggest lay Buddhist organization, initially formed a coalition government with the LDP from 1999 to 2009 and they later regained power together in 2012 and have held it since.
The LDP, which has been in power for most of the period since 1955, has been rocked by the funds scandal, which stems from some of its factions having neglected to report portions of their incomes from fundraising parties for years and accumulating slush funds.
While the political funds control law has been revised several times after money scandals involving LDP members were revealed, critics point out that it still contains loopholes that enable politicians to maintain slush funds.
For example, the current law does not require names of those who purchase fundraising party tickets worth up to 200,000 yen ($1,280) to be recorded in political funds reports. The LDP had proposed decreasing the threshold to 100,000 yen.
Kishida, however, agreed to Komeito's demand to lower the line to 50,000 yen to enhance transparency during his meeting last week with the party's chief, Natsuo Yamaguchi.
Many LDP lawmakers have opposed reducing the threshold, as they believe the move would discourage companies and individuals who do not want their support for specific parties to be unveiled from buying fundraising party tickets, pundits said.
Kishida also made concessions to Nobuyuki Baba, the leader of the second-largest opposition Japan Innovation Party, on the LDP's revised blueprint for reforming the political funds control law.
Baba urged the LDP to review the reporting rules on so-called policy activity funds provided by parties to senior lawmakers. The party powerbrokers are not required to report how they use the money, even though their spending reaches hundreds of millions of yen.
Some LDP heavyweights have been criticized for receiving large policy activity funds. In 2022, the party distributed more than 1.4 billion yen in such funds, with around 971 million yen allocated to Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi alone.
On Tuesday, the LDP abruptly offered to cancel deliberations on the issue at a lower house committee, citing the need to review the bill to reflect the opinions of the Japan Innovation Party, even though it was scheduled to be adopted at that time.
The LDP and the Japan Innovation Party agreed to make it mandatory to disclose and keep on file all payments from the policy activity funds for 10 years after they are made and to set an annual cap on spending.
But Kishida said at a parliamentary session on Wednesday that rules on how the disclosure should be conducted will be considered after the amendment to the political funds control law is passed, triggering an uproar from parties that oppose the bill for not going far enough.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and other forces have called for more drastic amendments to the law, including banning corporate donations to political parties, which have benefited the pro-business LDP.
==Kyodo
