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It is extremely regrettable that the spirit of the president of a responsible political party could not be felt regarding the tackling of difficult issues and moving national politics forward without fear of criticism.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has held its party convention and decided on this year’s campaign policy, with regional revitalization and the preparation for the establishment of a disaster management agency as priority measures. The campaign policy also included a compilation of an “outline of a Reiwa-era version of political reforms.”
In 1989, the LDP compiled a political reform outline in response to the so-called Recruit bribery scandal. It indicates rules, such as refraining from holding political fundraising parties for factions and revising upper limits on political funds donations.
The latest incident involving LDP factions that violated the Political Funds Control Law occurred because the LDP did not abide by decisions they made themselves. It is unlikely that the party will be trusted even if it creates a new outline.
In his presidential speech, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, reflecting on the LDP becoming an opposition party in 2009, said, “We would like to regain the humility of that time once again.”
The prime minister seems to believe that the LDP is facing harsh public criticism because of the problem of politics and money, but is that really the only reason?
The Ishiba administration, which is made up of minority ruling parties, has accepted the opposition parties’ positions one after another, such as free high school tuition and the raising of the “annual income barrier,” the threshold for the imposition of the income tax.
The presence of a political party taking the reins of the government cannot be felt, as it is only maintaining the administration with the cooperation of opposition parties, without considering the validity and effectiveness of various policies and securing financial resources for them.
At the end of last year, the LDP had 1.03 million party members, a drop of more than 60,000 in one year. Even LDP members seem to be disappointed with the current party.
Ishiba also emphasized at an event on the eve of the party’s convention that “the nation will collapse if only measures that are popular with the public are taken.” But this appears to be exactly what his current stance is.
The government has recently decided to postpone raising the maximum amount of co-payments for patients under the high-cost medical expense benefit system, which is intended to reduce the burden on patients when medical expenses become too high. The increase in the maximum amount was planned for August this year.
In February, the government decided to leave the costs unchanged for patients who require long-term treatment in response to protests against the increased burden. However, as the protests persisted, the government said it would implement the plan as scheduled this year, but it would reconsider the increase next year or later.
As a result of the entire plan being forced to be postponed, there is a possibility that the initial budget proposal, which has already passed the House of Representatives, will have to be revised again by the House of Councillors, and then be passed once more by the lower house.
The government and ruling parties are also reportedly considering postponing the submission of bills related to pension reforms to the Diet until after the upper house election this summer. The administration’s lack of a definite opinion is too much to tolerate.
