The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday submitted to the Lower House a new bill to revise the political funding law that would ban so-called funding for political activities but allow for expenditures used on certain highly sensitive activities to remain undisclosed — an exception opposition parties have condemned as a “loophole.”
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who also serves as the LDP president, has repeatedly expressed hopes of passing the bill within the year. But it is unclear whether that will be possible as opposition parties are demanding a further ban on corporate donations, which the LDP is reluctant to embrace.
“The focus will be put on how to think about corporate donations," said Shinjiro Koizumi, a senior member of the LDP’s political reform panel. "We (the LDP) will not take the stance that corporate donations are bad and individual donations are okay. While making our basic stance clear, we need to discuss what we can do to move forward on this topic as much as possible."
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