Amid deep internal divisions, a Liberal Democratic Party party panel on political reform reached an agreement Tuesday to turn the party’s factions into "policy groups" detached from political funds and pushing its members to be allocated Cabinet and party posts.
In the interim report approved by the panel, it decided to introduce tougher rules to regulate political funding for lawmakers, abolish fundraising events, guarantee more transparency on political funds as well allowing online submission of political fund reports. Tougher party regulations will be applied in cases where the political funds law has been violated.
However, it remains unclear whether this move will lead to a substantial reform of the party's faction-oriented politics — for decades the force to elect its leaders to party presidents, selecting members to key posts and allocating funds to its members.