Asia-Pacific Newsweek
December 18, 2024
Tokyo – The Liberal Democratic Party has intactly accepted the opposition party’s draft bill to completely abolish fees for policy activities, paving the way for revisions to the Political Fund Management Act during the current Diet.
The Liberal Democrats also had to abandon a proposal to create a new spending category whose purpose could be kept secret under certain conditions. As a minority coalition government, the party was forced to make concessions.
Kisaburo Tokai, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Political Reform Headquarters, reported on the current status of negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties at a special session of the General Affairs Council on Monday. At the meeting, he called for understanding from all parties that the bill would not be passed as proposed by the Liberal Democratic Party.
It is unusual for the Liberal Democratic Party to reconvene a general meeting on a bill that has already completed party procedures. About five hours later, the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Parliamentary Affairs Committee and the chairman of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan agreed to amend the Political Funds Management Act.
Under the agreement, the Liberal Democratic Party will support a bill submitted by seven opposition parties, including the Democratic Party, to amend the law to completely abolish the fees paid by political parties to their MPs for policy activities.
Instead, the CDP agreed to support a bill proposed by the LDP to amend the law to abolish policy activity fees (with some exceptions) and create a new spending category whose purpose was to It may not be disclosed under certain conditions.
The Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan will support the plan proposed by the Komeito Party and the National Democratic Party to establish a third-party entity to oversee the expenses of policy activities.
Complete elimination of policy event fees and the establishment of a third party agency will likely be approved. At the same time, the content proposed by the Liberal Democratic Party has not been retained in the bill, because the retained content includes content that the government and the opposition have already agreed to, such as publishing income and expenditure reports online.
The Liberal Democrats, hoping to pave the way for the creation of new spending categories, submitted a revised draft bill to the opposition on Friday that included a rider to delay a decision on its creation.
However, China Democratic Party leader Yoshihiko Noda scoffed at the idea, saying: “I don't think support [for the establishment] will spread. The Liberal Democrats should abandon this idea.
The LDP, which has been in political talks with the LDP and Komeito, also does not support the plan, with a senior official saying: “This is a different matter from the LDP-Komeito-LDP talks.”
A nationwide poll conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun from Friday to Sunday showed support for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's cabinet fell four percentage points to 39%.
Komeito Secretary-General Makoto Nishida said the Liberal Democratic Party has yet to gain full understanding from the public.
Shigeru Ishiba, who is also the president of the Liberal Democratic Party, spoke with LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama and other LDP lawmakers on Sunday and decided to withdraw the proposal to create a new category.
Meanwhile, the China Democracy Party has given up on the idea of passing a bill banning political donations from companies and organizations in this session of Congress.
By continuing discussions between the government and the opposition until March next year, the China Democratic Party made concessions to the Liberal Democratic Party, which opposed the ban. The CDP decided to abandon the bill in part because it was not widely supported by most opposition parties.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Shinjiro Koizumi mentioned a Yomiuri Shimbun poll. 60% of the respondents said that corporate political donations should be allowed after improving transparency.
“I think a ban could be seen as a lack of prudence [the donations from companies],” Koizumi said at a meeting of the House of Representatives Special Committee on Political Reform on Monday.
