Despite long being considered a maverick within the Liberal Democratic Party for criticizing the faction system, digital minister Taro Kono is running as the only faction-endorsed candidate in the Sept. 27 presidential election, in which party reform and the system's problems are key issues.
Five LDP factions are in the process of being downgraded to policy groups following their dissolution earlier this year in the wake of the LDP's political funding scandal. They face strict restrictions on fundraising activities as a result.
Only the 54-member bloc led by LDP Vice President Taro Aso, which was not implicated in the scandal, chose to continue as a formal faction. Kono belongs to this faction and has its endorsement to run in the election.
Two others who have announced their candidacies — former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi and former Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba — have been highly critical of the faction system within the ruling party.
Kono, despite having criticized factions in the past for operating as cliques in which bosses helped members secure ministerial posts in exchange for their support, remains a member of the bloc led by Aso, whose support he actively sought.
Aso, who turns 84 on Sept. 20 and remains a powerful figure within the LDP, formally gave his faction’s endorsement of Kono on Tuesday.
Many Aso faction members remain wary of Kono, however.
Lower House member Masaaki Taira, an LDP member who was one of his key supporters in 2021, called on him to leave the faction.
“If you are going to appeal for reform of the party, you won’t be able to say anything unless you leave the Aso faction,” Taira said at a meeting of his supporters last week.
But Kono is defending his choice to remain.
”At this point, it's not about whether or not someone belongs to a faction. It's important for everyone to check whether or not the personnel (for ministerial and party posts) can be appointed without having the factions intervene when a new president is chosen,” he said during a television interview Wednesday.
During the interview, Kono also called for the return of slush funds pocketed by former faction members — seemingly an indication he might still have a maverick streak in him, and sparking a fresh controversy within the ruling party.
It's unclear whether his statements represent his true beliefs or are part of a carefully calculated political strategy designed to win as many party votes as possible in the leadership contest. More candidates are expected to emerge next week.
Masato Kamikubo, a Ritsumeikan University political scientist, suggests that unlike the 2021 presidential election, in which Kono operated as a true maverick, Aso’s endorsement indicates that his slush funds comment might be something calibrated to win support from critics of the faction system.
“The slush funds statement contains a strong message that the LDP will change. If Kono said it with the support and confidence of Aso, it’s a departure from what Kono has said and done in the past and appears more strategic,” he said.
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