About 60% of candidates involved in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's "slush fund" scandal lost in Sunday's election of the House of Representatives.
Of 46 such candidates, 18, including former LDP policy chief Koichi Hagiuda and former industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, won Lower House seats, while 28, including Hakubun Shimomura, also a former LDP policy chief, and Tamayo Marukawa, former minister for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, failed to secure their seats.
The severe outcome reflected renewed criticism against the LDP that arose in the final stage of the election campaign after the party, already battered by the slush fund scandal itself, was found to have provided ¥20 million to the LDP branches of scandal-embroiled members.
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