Faced with soaring calls for more transparency in political funding amid an ongoing high-profile scandal, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has turned to discussions over a potential dissolution of intraparty factions.

However, after two meetings of an ad-hoc panel established by party leader and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this month, fissures between lawmakers have emerged, and at the moment the outcome of the debate remains hard to predict.

The stakes are high — and it shows. On Tuesday, the party headquarters in Tokyo was teeming with reporters and camera crews trying to catch a glimpse of participants flocking into the room. The task force had extended its invitation to all party lawmakers, regardless of their affiliation, for open discussions on the matter.

Media were only allowed in after Kishida walked into the room and sat between Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi and Vice President Taro Aso.

“Politics is for the people," Kishida said. "I would like to go back to the spirit of the party’s foundation and ask you to express your thoughts frankly.” Discussions, which went on for approximately three hours, were kept behind closed doors.

After the first meeting last week, it had emerged that the nature of factions had received a great deal of attention in the talks. High-profile members went as far as saying that the groups should be dissolved.

”This time, in the face of recent events, we should clearly set forth what we will do and how we will respond as a party,” former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters last Thursday. “In that sense, the dissolution of factions would be a very clear message.”

After belonging to a faction in his early years as a lawmaker, Suga stepped away from the system years ago and has been a vocal critic ever since.

Around this time last year, his critical remarks over Kishida’s failure to step down from his position as a faction leader attracted great media attention. Following the emergence of the ongoing scandal over kickbacks of unreported income from fundraising parties, Kishida decided to temporarily leave that post. On Monday, the two held one-on-one discussions ahead of the task force meeting.

However, while Suga’s remarks might gain some traction among task force members that are unaffiliated with factions, the path to a full-fledged dissolution will be ripe with obstacles for various reasons.

First and foremost, there's the composition of the task force. Faction leaders such as Motegi and Aso actively participate in the discussions and will likely oppose any drastic change to the status-quo. A majority of those on the 38-member task force remain affiliated to a faction.

Secondly, there seems to be a wide consensus that the factions — whose origin dates back to the foundation of the LDP in the 1950s — still serve a purpose in providing training and guidance to young lawmakers.

For this reason, some lawmakers have suggested that it may be enough to set out clear rules that curb the influence of factions in the allocation of political funds, as well as government and party posts, and allow them to exist as simple groups where like-minded lawmakers gather to network and discuss policies. When a new government is formed, it is customary for faction leaders to present a list of potential candidates for Cabinet positions to the prime minister.

Additionally, factions have been providing lawmakers with funds to conduct their political activities and disbanding them would deal a severe blow, especially to young lawmakers unable to procure significant funding.

This is not the first time the LDP has sat down to discuss the potential dissolution of factions.

In 1989, in the aftermath of the Recruit scandal — which centered on insider trading and corruption — the party issued a series of guidelines to reduce the influence of money in politics and increase transparency in funding. The elimination of the “harmful effects of factions” was clearly stated as one of the pillars of reform.

Aside from the dissolution of factions, stricter regulations for fundraising parties and a revision of the political funds control law will receive further consideration.

Public opinion remains skeptical of the task force. A Kyodo News survey conducted last weekend found that over 75% of respondents don’t have any expectations for a satisfactory response to the scandal by the party. Over 80% of those surveyed support a dismantlement of the factions.

In anticipation of an interim report slated for the end of the month, the degree of commitment to reform among all involved and their ability to work together to restore the image of the party will be put to the test.