[QA Commentary] What's behind the decision to punish 39 members of the Liberal Democratic Party? What is the impact on the government? April 5th 12:00
Issues surrounding political funding parties of factions of the Liberal Democratic Party.
The disposition was decided on the 4th.
Former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Shioya, who was an Abe faction leader and chair of the faction, and Seko, former Secretary-General of the House of Councilors who was the top member of the House of Councilors, recommended that they leave the party, while former Policy Research Chairman Shimomura and former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Nishimura were members of the party for one year. A total of 39 people received disciplinary action, including suspension of qualifications.
Mr. Seko, who was advised to leave the party, left the party on the night of the 4th.
What kind of decisions were made behind the scenes when deciding on punishment?
What will be the impact on future government management? I will explain in detail.
Q. What decisions were made behind the scenes regarding this decision?
A.The key point is to get the people's consent.
This is essential for restoring trust.
Prime Minister Kishida believed that some degree of harsh punishment was necessary to put a damper on the situation.
On the other hand, another point is ``unity within the party.''
If many members are punished harshly, there may be a backlash from within the party and the party's unity may be disrupted.
One party official said:
``We need to come up with a good plan that balances these two things.'' (Liberal Democratic Party official)
However, on the night of the 4th when the decision was made, one Liberal Democratic Party member said the following.
``Right now, I think the result of the punishment is not enough to convince the public or unite within the party.'' (Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker)
Q. What are the details of the punishment for the 39 people?
A. This is the full story of the punishment of 39 members of the Abe and Nikai factions decided by the Liberal Democratic Party.
(*The amount is the amount that was not recorded in the income and expenditure report for the 5 years up to the year 2017)
Of the four Abe faction executives who discussed the handling of kickbacks, Shioya, former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, who served as the faction's chairman, and Seko, former Secretary-General of the House of Councilors, who was the top official on the House of Councilors side, recommended that they leave the party, and former political affairs investigator Shimomura The chairman and former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Nishimura have had their party membership suspended for one year.
Takagi, former head of the National Diet Countermeasures Committee, who served as secretary general of the Abe faction, was suspended from party membership for six months, and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno, who also served as secretary general, and Takeda, former Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, and Hajime Hayashi, who served as secretary general of the Nikai faction. The Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and former Minister of Reconstruction Hirasawa have been suspended from party positions for one year.
In addition, members such as former Political Affairs Research Chairman Hagiuda, who had unreported amounts of more than 20 million yen over a five-year period, were suspended from their party positions for one year.
In addition, members with unreported amounts of 10 million yen to 20 million yen were suspended from party office for six months, and those with unreported amounts of 5 million yen to 10 million yen were reprimanded.
On the other hand, former Secretary-General Nikai, who had the highest amount of non-reporting over the five-year period at 35.26 million yen, was not subject to disciplinary action as he had announced his intention not to run for the next House of Representatives election.
Furthermore, the former accounting director of the Kishida faction, of which Prime Minister Kishida was the chairman, was found guilty, but he was not punished.
According to people involved, some attendees expressed the opinion that the punishment was too harsh.
Following the decision, Mr. Seko submitted a notification of resignation from the party, which was accepted.
He then denied resigning as a member, stating the following:
``From now on, I want to devote myself to my job as a lawmaker while making use of the relationships I have built over the years with people from all walks of life.''
When asked by reporters, ``Do you have any intention of switching your seat to the House of Representatives and running for office?'' he answered, ``My goal is to work hard as a member of the House of Representatives, day in and day out.''
Q. You made detailed differences in the disposition, but why did you decide to do it this way?
A. This is because we took into account the fact that the role in the faction and the amount of money not listed are different.
Political ethics review committees were held in both the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors regarding this issue, but it was unclear how the kickbacks began.
For this reason, we used their role in the faction as a ``measurement'' for considering punishment.
However, there were disagreements within the executive branch over whether to differentiate the punishments for executives from Abe's faction and Nikai's faction, making coordination difficult.
In the end, the decision was left to Prime Minister Kishida, and it was finally decided in the morning of the 4th.
However, the following complaints have been voiced by the members whose punishments have been decided, and I think there is a possibility that this will leave roots of trouble within the party.
``I don't understand that the line was drawn based on the amount of money.'' (A lawmaker whose punishment was decided)
Q. How did the members of Congress who were subject to punishment react?
A. Mr. Shioya, who served as the chairman of the Abe faction, submitted a written statement of defense on the 4th, as he was expected to be advised to leave the party.
``I cannot accept that only some members of Abe's faction are treated as scapegoats and unfairly harsh punishments.'
' ``We firmly protest against the dictatorial and despotic management of the party.''
On the night of the 4th, when the decision on punishment was announced, Mr. Shioya expressed the idea that Prime Minister Kishida, who led the faction in which the former accounting director was found guilty, should also be held responsible.
"I don't understand why they targeted the Abe faction and the Nikai faction and drew a line. It would be fair for each faction to receive the same punishment."
Q. What are your thoughts on Prime Minister Kishida and former Secretary General Nikai not being punished?
A. With the party suffering great damage from this issue, I think they decided that it would be difficult to punish Prime Minister Kishida in order to maintain the government.
One senior party official expressed the difficulty of responding as follows:
``If I suspend my party post, I will no longer be the president, so even if it's a reprimand, who is going to warn the prime minister?'' (Liberal Democratic Party official)
Furthermore, since Mr. Nikai is a stalwart of the party, having served as party secretary-general for over five years, the longest in history, some within the party have pointed out that harsh punishment would result in a backlash.
Furthermore, it seems that the decision was made that if Nikai, who was the head of the faction, was punished, there would be stronger calls for Prime Minister Kishida to be held responsible.
Q. How is it perceived within the Liberal Democratic Party?
A. There are some members who feel it is difficult to see whether the Liberal Democratic Party's punishment will satisfy the people.
``I sincerely apologize for causing so much mistrust among everyone over politics and money issues.''
Hideki Makihara, a non-partisan lawmaker, feels the scrutiny of citizens every day.
"The past few months have been tougher than in 2009 (when I quit). Now people just ignore me. They're like, 'Liberal Democratic Party? You don't know.'"
When asked, ``Do you think Prime Minister Kishida himself should be subject to punishment?'' he answered as follows.
``I think it will be difficult to convince both the people and within the party that no punishment will be given to Prime Minister Kishida.''
Q. How will the Liberal Democratic Party respond to the punishment?
A.The Liberal Democratic Party would like to take the punishment as a final step and shift our focus to efforts to prevent recurrence, such as amending the Political Funds Control Act.
Regarding revisions to the Political Funds Control Act, the ruling and opposition parties have put together proposals that include the introduction of the so-called ``coalition system,'' but the Liberal Democratic Party has yet to seriously consider it.
In the future, we would like to move forward with concrete work and hold discussions among the parties at a special committee set up in the Diet.
Q.What about the opposition party?
A. Representative Izumi of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said the following.
``There are voices within the LDP that the punishments are inconsistent and unfair, and the LDP has lost control.Prime Minister Kishida is only judging others and is the softest on himself.It is extremely arbitrary. "It's a targeted punishment, and it's the kind of punishment that is done in the absence of the people, like what happens when a party fights."
Opposition parties have sharply criticized the punishment, saying it is nothing more than a closing ceremony, and say it is necessary to continue clarifying the facts.
The ruling and opposition parties are likely to continue to fight in the second half of the Diet session, as they plan to continue to strongly demand explanations from Mori and former Prime Minister Mori and the summoning of Abe faction leaders as witnesses.
Q. What is the impact on the Kishida administration? What will happen in the future?
A.It looks like the tough situation will continue.
The key to understanding it, the keyword is "counting backwards".
Both the ruling and opposition parties are conscious of the timing of the dissolution of the House of Representatives and the general election.
There will be one year left in his term in October, and an election for the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership is scheduled to take place before that.
It is expected that the ruling and opposition parties will play defense and defense from this point forward.
Votes will be counted for the by-election for the House of Representatives on April 28th, and one ruling party official said the following.
"The by-election will be an opportunity to receive an evaluation of the punishment" (ruling party official)
Furthermore, Prime Minister Kishida has been supported by the Abe faction, the largest faction, and some members of Congress have said the following about this punishment.
“I will no longer support Mr. Kishida.”
If the opposition, including from the Nikai faction, grows stronger, it could cast a shadow over Prime Minister Kishida's goal of re-election in the presidential election.
Q. “Counting backwards” since the presidential election. Will things go wrong?
A. That's possible.
Prime Minister Kishida is expected to work backwards and aim to lift his government.
"It is true that the party as a whole has caused this political distrust. As party president, I must take this seriously. I must do my best to prevent it from happening again and carry out political reforms. About myself. The final decision will be made by the people and party members after seeing the progress of efforts toward political reform."
The future direction of the government will depend on whether it can restore trust by implementing political reforms, such as amending the Political Funds Control Act, in the second half of the Diet session.
(Broadcast on April 4th on “News Watch 9” etc.)