Japan Election: 27 Candidates who Failed to Report Funds Lose Diet Seats; Total Includes 20 who Had LDP Endorsement

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:02 JST, October 28, 2024

Twenty-seven out of 44 Liberal Democratic Party candidates who failed to properly report political funds lost their seats in the House of Representatives election on Sunday.

Among them were 10 former LDP lawmakers who ran in the election as unaffiliated candidates because the LDP refused to endorse them. Seven of them lost their seats. They include former Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Hakubun Shimomura and former LDP Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Tsuyoshi Takagi.

The three who won their seats are former Minister for Reconstruction Katsuei Hirasawa, former LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Koichi Hagiuda and former Economy Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura.

The 34 scandal-tainted candidates who received LDP endorsement were not allowed to simultaneously run in proportional representations races.

Of these, 20 lost their seats. They include the former minister in charge of the Olympics, Tamayo Marukawa, and former Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Ryota Takeda.

The remaining 14, who won their seats, include former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno and former Defense Minister Tomomi Inada.