According to the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), the secret political funding scandal of the "Abe faction", the largest faction of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, continues to ferment, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has decided to reshuffle the cabinet and adjust the top personnel of the Liberal Democratic Party, and remove the senior officials of the "Abe faction".
According to Japan's Kyodo News Agency, a number of Japanese cabinet officials have submitted their resignations to Fumio Kishida today (14th), including Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasunori Nishimura, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Junji Suzuki, Japanese Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Miyashitoro, Prime Minister Assistant Tsuko Ueno, and Liberal Democratic Party Political Research Chairman Koichi Hagiuda.
According to the report, Fumio Kishida announced this morning that former Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will succeed Hirokazu Matsuno as Chief Cabinet Secretary, and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will be Takeshi Saito, Takeaki Matsumoto and Tetsushi Sakamoto respectively. None of the four members of the "Abe faction" are members. In addition, five vice ministers belonging to the "Abe faction" are also facing full replacement.
Screenshot of NHK report
According to Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" report, in the process of personnel adjustment, Kishida originally hoped to select the next chief cabinet secretary from among non-factional people, but former Defense Minister Yasuichi Hamada refused to take over, so he had to use his own faction Hayashi Yoshimasa; in addition, Kishida originally planned to let Senate member Ada Masashi (no faction) replace Horii Iwa ("Abe faction") as vice minister of foreign affairs, but Ada Yasashi refused on the grounds of "lack of physical strength".
In this regard, the Asahi Shimbun commented that it is not common for a succession of MPs to refuse to accept Kishida's job offers. This can be seen as a sign that Kishida is in a difficult situation, and his centripetal force is declining at an accelerated rate.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted Jun Azumi, a member of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party and chairman of the Diet Policy Committee, as saying that the political donation scandal is a problem for the Liberal Democratic Party as a whole, and Kishida's practice of merely replacing senior officials of the "Abe faction" is completely meaningless.
Some "Abe" factions admit that they have been instructed not to keep accounts
According to previous reports, several members of the "Abe faction" are suspected of receiving kickbacks from the income of political fundraising rallies held by the faction, and the incident has had a huge shock to Japanese politics after the incident was exposed. As the scandal continues to ferment, Fumio Kishida plans to reshuffle the cabinet and adjust the top personnel of the Liberal Democratic Party in the near future, and remove a total of 15 senior officials, including the "Abe faction" cabinet members involved. According to the analysis, the incident not only hurt the vitality of the "Abe faction", but also further dealt a blow to the Kishida government, which has low popularity.
Japanese media recently revealed that the "Abe faction" issued sales targets to its legislators, requiring them to sell tickets to political fundraising rallies at a price of 20,000 yen (about 1,000 yuan) each. If the proceeds from the sale exceed the target, the relevant MPs will receive a kickback.
According to reports, the "Abe faction" has not recorded the above-mentioned income and expenditure in accordance with relevant regulations in the past five years, and the cumulative total amount of the secret funds may reach hundreds of millions of yen, becoming a "small treasury" of their secret political funds. Several members of the "Abe faction" have been accused of receiving kickbacks, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasunori Nishimura, and Takeshi Takagi, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Diet Policy Committee.
Japanese Vice Defense Minister Hiroyuki Miyazawa was interviewed in the Diet on the 13th. Source: Japan's "Yomiuri Shimbun"
According to Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun, other factions, including the "Kishida faction", are also involved in "kickbackgate", and Japanese prosecutors are now investigating the "Abe faction" because the faction's actions are systematic and involve larger amounts. Hiroyuki Miyazawa, the "Abe faction" vice minister of defense, who is expected to be replaced, said in an interview yesterday (13th) that the faction had instructed him not to account for the amount of kickbacks for overselling tickets, but he refused to say who gave the order. He revealed that between 2020 and 2022, the amount of kickbacks underreported was about 1.4 million yen (about 70,000 yuan), saying that the money was used for "political activities".
Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported that people related to the "Kishida faction" believed that the problem with the declaration of political contributions was a "work error" and did not disclose the specific amount. But according to analysts quoted by Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, "Kishida just looked serious and said that he would wait for the prosecutor to investigate and wait until the time came to carry out some necessary reforms." But that's not what the people want, we want to see transparency about where money goes!"
The approval rating of the Kishida cabinet is less than 20%.
It is worth noting that Kishida just underwent a cabinet reshuffle two months ago, hoping to build a reform image and increase his approval rating. However, since late October, the Japanese government has been plagued by scandals: Taro Yamada, the political secretary of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, was exposed to an extramarital affair, Vice Minister of Justice Kakisawa was suspected of violating the election law, the company under the name of Vice Minister of Finance Kenji Kanda was in arrears of taxes, and the political secretary of the Ministry of Defense, Shingo Miyake, sexually harassed a female subordinate, and the first three finally resigned. Now, the Liberal Democratic Party's political donation scandal has once again undermined the confidence of the Japanese people in the government.
According to a December poll conducted by Japan's current news agency, the approval rating of Fumio Kishida and his cabinet has fallen to 17.1%, down another 4.2% from the previous month. According to the report, this is also the first time that Kishida's approval rating has been below 20% since he became prime minister, and it is also the lowest approval rating of the cabinet since the Liberal Democratic Party returned to power in 2012.
Source: Japan Jiji News Agency
According to the "Nihon Keizai Shimbun": The latest poll released by Japanese media on December 11 shows that 87.7% of the Japanese people believe that Kishida is responsible for the LDP's political donation scandal, and about 40% demand that he step down immediately, but the LDP has not blown the wind of "Kishida stepping down". According to an analysis by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the entire Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is now being questioned by the public, and even if the prime minister is replaced, it will be useless; in the absence of effective countermeasures, the LDP will fall into a vicious circle of losing the support of the people.
According to the report, a number of LDP members revealed that Kishida has no intention of resigning at present. The report also pointed out that under the current mechanism, power is concentrated in the prime minister's office, and if Kishida is resolute, it will be difficult to bring about a change of prime minister. In addition, the investigation into the political donation scandal by the Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office will continue until next year, and if Kishida steps down before the investigation is completed, the LDP's political power will inevitably be weakened, and the new prime minister will be forced to take over the "hot potato". A former cabinet member said the situation was alarming and that the LDP's support was likely to continue to decline.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was interviewed at the Prime Minister's Office on the 14th. Source: Japan's "Asahi Shimbun"
It is worth mentioning that after the scandal broke, Kishida announced on the 7th of this month that he would withdraw from the "Kishida faction" of which he was the chairman during his tenure as prime minister, but this move did not make Kishida clear from the scandal. As the scandal grew, the pressure on Kishida increased. Japan's Sankei Shimbun quoted a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as saying, "As the investigation deepens, a split in the government is inevitable." The approval rating of the Kishida cabinet continues to be sluggish, and once the pillar of the 'Abe faction' falls, the opposition parties may step up their public opinion offensive to dissolve the House of Representatives. ”
On NHK's live television debate program, representatives of various opposition parties also fiercely criticized the LDP. Masayo Tanabe, secretary general of the House of Councillors of the Constitutional Democratic Party, said, "It is doubtful that the LDP's hoarding of secret political funds has become a regular occurrence, and that this incident cannot end with some people taking responsibility, and that the structural problems behind it should be thoroughly investigated, and that it is necessary for the LDP to purify itself." Yasue Shuyama, chairman of the Senate of the National Democratic Party, said that this is an organized and collective political funding problem, and that the elimination of factional politics should be considered.
Author丨Lai Chenlu, the chief writer of Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News
Editor丨Zeng Zijin, editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News