December 18, 2024
TOKYO – The Liberal Democratic Party has accepted unaltered the draft bill proposed by the opposition parties to completely abolish policy activity expenses, paving the way for the revision of the Political Funds Control Law during the current Diet session.
The LDP also had to drop its proposal to create a new category of spending whose use can be kept undisclosed under certain conditions. The party was forced to make concessions as a minority coalition government.
The chairman of the LDP’s Political Reform Headquarters, Kisaburo Tokai, reported on the current status of negotiations between the ruling and opposition blocs at an extraordinary meeting of its General Council on Monday. At the meeting, he called for an understanding that the bill would not pass as proposed by the LDP.
It was unusual for the LDP to hold another General Council meeting over a bill that had already completed the party’s internal procedures. About five hours later, the chairperson of the LDP’s Diet Affairs Committee and the counterpart from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan agreed to revise the Political Funds Control Law.
Under the agreement, the LDP will support a bill to revise the law, which was submitted by seven opposition parties including the CDPJ, to totally abolish policy activity expenses, which are paid by political parties to their Diet members.
Instead, the CDPJ has agreed to back one of the LDP’s proposed bills to revise the law after the LDP deleted its original proposals in the draft bill to abolish the policy activity expenses with some exceptions as well as to create a new category of spending whose use can be kept undisclosed under certain conditions.
The LDP and the CDPJ will support a plan to establish a third-party entity to oversee policy activity expenses as proposed by Komeito and the Democratic Party for the People.
The complete abolition of the policy activity expenses and the establishment of the third-party body are likely to be approved. Meanwhile, the elements proposed by the LDP did not remain in the bills, as the elements that did remain included those that had already been agreed upon by the ruling and opposition parties, such as the online publication of income and expenditure reports.
The LDP, which wanted to pave the way for the establishment of the new category of spending, presented a revised draft bill Friday to the opposition parties that included an additional clause in the bill to postpone the decision on the establishment.
However, CDPJ leader Yoshihiko Noda scoffed at the idea, saying: “I don’t think support [for the establishment] will spread at all. The LDP should give up on the idea.”
The DPFP, which has been holding political talks with the LDP and Komeito, also did not support the plan, with a senior official saying, “This is a different matter from the LDP-Komeito-DPFP talks.”
The approval rating for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Cabinet fell four points to 39%, according to a nationwide public opinion poll conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun from Friday to Sunday.
Komeito Secretary General Makoto Nishida said the LDP has not gained sufficient understanding from the public.
Ishiba, who also serves as LDP president, talked with LDP Secretary General Hiroshi Moriyama and other LDP members on Sunday and decided to withdraw the proposal to establish the new category.
Meanwhile, the CDPJ has abandoned the idea of passing a bill to ban political donations from companies and organizations in the current Diet session.
By continuing discussions between the ruling and opposition parties until March next year, the CDPJ has made concessions to the LDP, which opposes the ban. The CDPJ’s decision to abandon the bill was partly due to the fact that most opposition parties have not widely supported it.
LDP member Shinjiro Koizumi referred to the Yomiuri Shimbun public opinion poll in which 60% of respondents said that political donations from companies should be allowed after making it more transparent.
“I think it could be considered a lack of prudence to ban [the donations from companies],” Koizumi said at a meeting of the House of Representatives Special Committee on Political Reform on Monday.