Political donations to the biggest ruling party by companies and industry groups fell last year on a year-on-year basis for the first time since its return to power in 2012, government data showed Friday.
But the data released by the internal affairs ministry showed that the Liberal Democratic Party received the largest amount of donations among other political parties for the seventh straight year, raising ¥2.42 billion ($23.3 million) in 2019, down 1.6% from the previous year.
Meanwhile, last year's total outlay by all political parties jumped 22.2% to ¥115.8 billion as 2019 saw a once-in-12-years overlap of nationwide local elections in the spring and the House of Councilors election in the summer.