Political Funds Income and Expenditure Report published online Not implemented in 4 prefectures due to staff shortages, etc.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has been calling on prefectures to proactively publish reports on the Internet for the past 18 years. "Ensuring transparency is the most important thing when it comes to political funds, and we should publish them online as soon as possible," he said.

Prefectural election management committees and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications accept submissions of political fund income and expenditure reports from political organizations nationwide and publish them every year.

Since 2004, 18 years ago, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has notified prefectures to actively consider publishing information on the Internet. In addition, I learned from interviews with each election management committee that they will not be announced online this year.

In order to view income and expenditure reports in these four prefectures, it is necessary to go to the prefectural office.

Six years ago, there were 20 prefectures that did not publish information online, but the number of municipalities that do so has increased year by year, and Ishikawa Prefecture also plans to publish information online from next year.

Takashi Tomisaki, a professor at Komazawa University who is familiar with political funds, said, ``The most important thing is to ensure transparency about how politicians and political parties obtained and used funds, and to provide voters with information for making decisions. It is important and should be announced on the Internet as soon as possible."

The person in charge of the four prefectures is…

Officials from four prefectures that do not publish their political fund balance reports on the Internet told NHK as follows.

Niigata Prefecture said, ``Even if it becomes necessary to hold an election suddenly, we need to consider whether we can handle it without problems with the current personnel system. .

Ishikawa Prefecture said, "We were unable to do so until now due to staff shortages, but we have completed the administrative preparations, so from next year onwards we plan to publish the results online."

Hiroshima Prefecture said, "We think it would be desirable to publish all income and expenditure reports online, but considering the administrative burden, etc., it would be difficult, and we would like to continue to consider it."

A spokesperson for Fukuoka Prefecture commented, ``With the progress of online disclosure nationwide, and face-to-face correspondence being restricted due to the novel coronavirus, we believe that it should be disclosed online. I would like to consider whether it is possible."