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The Yomiuri Shimbun Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda asks questions at the House of Representatives on Monday. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is seen center.
By Mai Fukuda and Takahito Higuchi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
7:00 JST, December 4, 2024
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, on Monday signaled clearly that he is willing to work with opposition parties in implementing political reforms, except for the abolition of donations from companies and organizations, in the first Diet debates since the LDP suffered heavy losses in the House of Representatives election in October.
Ishiba hopes to revise the Political Funds Control Law during the current Diet session so that he can have some closure on the money and politics issue. But for the LDP, the road back to being trusted will be long and steep.
Determined to resist
“Political parties should avoid letting donations distort their policies. In that sense, there is no difference between donations from individuals and those from companies and organizations,” Ishiba said, answering a question from Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda.
In response, there was a chorus of boos from the opposition. Ishiba stopped talking for a moment and looked sternly at the Diet chamber. Then he again stressed his opposition to abolishing donations from companies and organizations, saying they were not inappropriate in themselves.
Criticizing Ishiba, Noda said, “Even though many opposition parties are seeking to abolish donations from companies and organizations, you did not mention the issue in your policy speech at all.”
However, Ishiba would not change his position.
The LDP has taken a consistent stand on the issue. “The LDP does not assume that donations from companies are bad and donations from individuals are good,” said Kisaburo Tokai, who leads the LDP’s political reform headquarters. Their stance is based on a 1970 Supreme Court ruling that stated a private company is generally free to make political donations.
On Sunday, LDP Election Strategy Committee Chairman Seiji Kihara, who is also a senior member of the party’s political reform headquarters, and former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited the Prime Minister’s Office.
They are believed to have discussed the issue and agreed that they would not accept the demand to abolish donations from companies and organizations during the Diet session.
The LDP plans to call for medium- to long-term talks on the issue that will involve experts, rather than hurriedly trying to reach a conclusion during the current Diet session, a position shared by LDP coalition partner Komeito.
“If reaching an agreement before the end of this year is impossible, then it is important to take enough time to thoroughly discuss the issue,” LDP Secretary General Hiroshi Moriyama said at a press conference Monday.
Tough situation
On other political reform issues, Ishiba kept a low profile. As the leader of the minority ruling bloc, he is in a difficult situation, since he can only move forward on policies for which there is agreement with the major opposition parties including the Democratic Party for the People, which the LDP wants to cooperate with.
Criticizing political activity funds that are given to individual lawmakers by parties, Noda said, “It’s no exaggeration to say that the funds are legal slush funds.” Ishiba replied that he aims to abolish the funds.
Along with the abolition of the funds, the LDP has proposed creating a third-party organization to oversee the spending of political funds that need to be examined before they can be disclosed.
Ishiba showed his willingness to discuss the issue sincerely with opposition parties and political groups. Answering a question from Satoshi Asano, a member of the DPFP, with which the LDP is currently discussing changes to the so-called ¥1.03 million barrier, Ishiba said, “The LDP shares the same views as your party on basic issues such as the abolition of political activity funds.”
Ruling and opposition parties plan to resume discussions on political reforms in the near future, and the LDP plans to propose the outline of a bill to revise the Political Funds Control Law, a demand of the opposition bloc. The LDP aims to revise the law during the current extraordinary Diet session.
However, the issue of members of the LDP’s Abe and other factions underreporting revenue in political funds reports is still unresolved. On Monday, Noda called on LDP lower house members who failed to report funds they received in their political funds reports to attend the lower house’s Deliberative Council on Political Ethics, together with 27 House of Councillors members who had already agreed to attend it.
In response, Ishiba said he would urge the offending members to fulfill their responsibility. However, LDP members are increasingly concerned that the CDPJ will continue to raise questions about the political funds issue and argue that deliberations at the council are not enough, so that they can make the issue a major focus of the upper house election next summer.
