As the political slush fund scandal that has shaken the ruling Liberal Democratic Party drags on, debates on political reform will likely dominate the second half of the current parliamentary session now that the ¥112.57 trillion ($744 billion) budget has cleared both chambers.
From April, lawmakers will concentrate on overhauling the current regulations on political funding. Amid growing political disenchantment, ruling and opposition parties are anxious to outline a more ambitious blueprint for reform to raise their profile among voters.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is also the LDP president, has expressed his eagerness to revise the political funds law in the current session of parliament, slated to end on June 23.
“I promise you once again that, in order to restore trust in politics, I will take the lead in pushing for drastic party and political reform,” he said in a speech at an annual LDP convention on March 17, revealing he had instructed the party leadership to come up with a concrete plan to amend the political funds control law.
With the September LDP presidential election looming, Kishida seemingly hopes to buoy his sluggish approval ratings by spearheading discussions on reform. But so far, the reverberations from the scandal have shown no sign of abating, which could undercut his efforts to boost his popularity.
Next week, the LDP is set to issue a formal reprimand to four senior members of the party faction once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for their alleged role in the resumption of unreported kickbacks of income collected through fundraising parties.
All four have repeatedly denied their involvement in the wrongdoing in recent parliamentary testimonies, but their explanations were deemed insufficient. Inconsistencies in their accounts have prompted mounting calls for a formal reprimand and tighter regulations on the handling of political funding.
In the upcoming weeks, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, a party kingmaker, might face further questioning by the LDP leadership to clarify the circumstances behind the kickback practices and his alleged role in the scandal.
Potential law revision
Currently, the political funds control law designates the accountant of a political group as the primary person responsible for the group’s finances, leaving room for a legal loophole often exempting politicians from any legal responsibility.
In his speech at the party convention, Kishida hinted that the LDP’s plan for political reform would be built on three main pillars:
- Tougher penalties for lawmakers involved in wrongdoing (even if indirectly).
- Stricter external scrutiny on the finances of political groups.
- Higher transparency on political funding.
The proposal will be an extension of measures already formally adopted by the party in the convention, including stringent internal punishments for lawmakers associated with any unlawful activities. For the moment, the party has opted to suspend all fundraising parties.
While opposition parties are on board with some of these proposals, the prospects of cooperation with those groups on other items remain uncertain.
Political activities’ funds
Along with other opposition parties, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) and Nippon Ishin no Kai have been advocating for a fundamental revision of the rules on the use of the so-called funds for political activities. These are sums lawmakers receive from the party leadership individually in order to conduct various political activities, including electoral campaigning.
Even though the law forbids individuals or organizations from making direct donations to lawmakers, the system leaves room for transfers via parties.
Lawmakers though are not required to report these sums in their political funds reports or disclose how they used them, a matter that has drawn significant criticism from the public.
In 2022, the LDP transferred over ¥1.4 billion to its members, with LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi receiving the bulk of it — over ¥970 million.
The ruling party appears wary of a significant overhaul of the rules governing political activities funds on the grounds that any transparency requirements might curtail the political freedom of lawmakers.
On corporate donations to political parties, the party will likely make no concessions to the opposition camp, as Kishida himself has repeatedly suggested. The CDP, Nippon Ishin and the Japanese Communist Party have all argued for an outright ban on all corporate donations.
While the Kishida administration might refrain from intervening directly in parliamentary negotiations, the debate — set to kick off in a dedicated Lower House commission in April — carries high stakes for Japan's political world.
Economic security and other bills
Besides political reform, additional legislation under discussion in the assembly extends across different areas, ranging from economic security to immigration policy and joint custody of minors.
A government-sponsored bill to conduct screenings on certain individuals allowed to have special access to classified economic information is currently under deliberation in the Lower House.
The Kishida administration has framed it as an indispensable tool to both strengthen the country’s resilience against attacks on critical infrastructure and provide business opportunities to domestic firms.
However, opposition parties have voiced their doubts over the proposal, arguing that the bill's target and scope are ambiguous.
Moreover, in a bid to tackle problems stemming from labor shortages, parliament is set to discuss an amendment to the immigration law that would abolish the current technical intern program and open the door for foreign trainees to be able to reside in Japan for a longer period and acquire professional skills.
Children's well-being will become a matter of debate in two separate bills that aim to bolster background checks on anyone looking to work with children and introduce joint custody for divorced couples, respectively.
Parliamentary debates will take place amid a packed political calendar.
In early April, Kishida will travel to the United States, where he will meet U.S. President Joe Biden, and in late April there will be three by-elections in Tokyo, Shimane and Nagasaki prefectures.
A planned ¥40,000 cut in resident and income taxes will come into effect in June.
Once the current session ends, the focus of Japan’s political center of Nagatacho will likely turn to campaigning for September’s LDP presidential race.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.