On the 27th, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which is running in the Japanese National Assembly election, decided to exclude from nomination 12 members of the National Assembly involved in the ‘factional slush fund scandal‘ that broke out last year. As public criticism surrounding the slush fund scandal is strong, it is interpreted that nominating them could have a negative impact on the election landscape.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, held a meeting of the party’s election headquarters on the 9th and decided not to nominate six lawmakers with ties to factional slush funds in the general election. The Liberal Democratic Party previously decided to exclude from nomination six people who had been suspended as party members as a result of party disciplinary action in April of this year, resulting in a total of 12 people not being nominated. Of the 12 people excluded from nomination, 11 are from the former Abe faction, and one is from the former Nikai faction, which had a cooperative relationship with the Abe faction.
Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party and the party’s second-in-command, said, “This decision was made after a detailed review of the situation in each constituency in accordance with Prime Minister Ishiba’s policy,” and added, “All candidates will seriously do their best to regain the public’s trust in the election.” “I hope everything goes well,” he said.
However, there are also observations that the division within the party may be further amplified in the future as the majority of lawmakers excluded from the nomination belong to the hard-line conservative old Abe faction that has been the mainstream of the Liberal Democratic Party. The analysis is that if the results of the general election are not good, Prime Minister Ishiba’s position, which already has a weak base within the party, will be further narrowed, making it difficult to run the government. The Japanese House of Representatives (House of Representatives) was officially dissolved on the 9th, entering the phase of a full-fledged general election.
Separately, the Liberal Democratic Party decided to nominate lawmakers involved in slush funds with a low level of disciplinary action, but not to allow multiple candidacy for proportional representation. Accordingly, it is expected that the approximately 40 lawmakers will not be able to run for office twice.
Unlike Korea, Japan runs for constituencies and can also run for proportional representation. In Japan, which implements a vote-loss ratio system, duplicate candidates who are defeated in a local district can be saved through proportional representation if they fall narrowly. Although it was introduced as a system to reduce the number of resignations, there were many cases where high-ranking lawmakers who were difficult to guarantee election to their constituencies used it as a means to maintain their seats in the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, the issue of collusion with the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church), which shook the Liberal Democratic Party along with the slush fund scandal, is being discussed again ahead of the election. It is known that the newly inaugurated Justice Minister Hideki Makihara has attended Family Federation lectures and rallies since 2005 and has also received election support.
Tokyo = Correspondent Lee Sang-hoon sanghun@donga.com