LDP To Take 6 Unaffiliated Lawmakers Into Diet Group; List Includes Seko, Others Involved in Funds Scandal

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:54 JST, October 31, 2024

The Liberal Democratic Party is focusing its efforts on encouraging lower house members who were elected without party affiliations in Sunday’s general election to join its parliamentary group to work together with the longtime ruling party in Diet affairs.

The LDP has found it necessary to increase the number of members in its parliamentary group in the House of Representatives for the sake of stable handling of Diet affairs, because the party and its junior partner Komeito failed to win a majority in the general election.

Among those who won seats as unaffiliated candidates in Sunday’s lower house election, it has been decided that six will join the LDP parliamentary group, according to party executives.

Among the six is Hiroshige Seko, who left the party before the general election. The LDP issued Seko a recommendation to leave the party as a disciplinary measure amid a political funds scandal involving some of its factions, including the now-defunct Abe faction to which Seko belonged.

Three other members of the six ran as unaffiliated because the LDP did not endorse them due to their involvement in the scandal.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, who also belonged to the Abe faction, has his party membership suspended for a year. Koichi Hagiuda and Katsuei Hirasawa have been suspended from party positions for a year. Hagiuda used to belong to the Abe faction, while Hirasawa was a member of the now-defunct Nikai faction.

The remaining two are Satoshi Mitazono and Ken Hirose, both of whom won seats by beating LDP-endorsed candidates in their constituencies.

A special Diet session will be convened on Nov. 11, in which a vote will be held to designate the prime minister.

By encouraging the six unaffiliated members to join its parliamentary group, the LDP leadership also aims for them to vote for party President Shigeru Ishiba so that he can continue his premiership.

The ruling party is also seeking to take in yet another four unaffiliated members who formed their own parliamentary group before the general election. The four are seen as “easy for the LDP to work with because they have similar views” with the ruling party, according to an Ishiba aide.

Nonetheless, Sunday’s crushing defeat means that the ruling coalition now holds just 215 seats. Even if those 10 unaffiliated members come aboard, the coalition is still short of a 233-seat majority at the lower house.

In addition, some party members are cautious about the LDP move to allow Seko, Nishimura, Hagiuda and Hirasawa to join in its parliamentary group because they have left the party or received disciplinary action amid the political funds scandal.

“Such a move could reignite the issue of politics and money, and our party could face a backlash from the public,” a seasoned LDP member said.