Tag - political-funds

 
 

POLITICAL FUNDS

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida waits for the start of the Lower House Budget Committee in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 5, 2024
Parties clash over release of LDP's internal funds scandal probe
The opposition had demanded that the LDP publish a list of all party members responsible for the underreporting of political funds in the last five years.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (from left), Vice President Taro Aso and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend a party meeting on Jan. 26.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 4, 2024
Turmoil ahead for two LDP factions continuing activities
Factions led by Taro Aso and Toshimitsu Motegi continue to face calls to disband from their own members.
Japan remains largely unresponsive as the U.S. moves toward the escalation of retaliatory strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen and other Iranian-supported militants in the Middle East.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 2, 2024
As the U.S. and Iran inch toward war, Tokyo bickers about political factions
Japan remains largely unresponsive as U.S. moves toward retaliatory strikes in the Middle East, and possibly war.
Ryu Shionoya, who headed the faction’s leadership committee but was never formally appointed chairman after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated in July 2022, announced that the faction was done on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 1, 2024
Curtain falls on Abe faction's 45-year history but scrutiny to continue
Unanswered questions over members' involvement in the LDP's political funds scandal mean the dissolution may not be the end of the story.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a Lower House plenary session in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2024
Kishida faces heat from all sides over political funds scandal
The prime minister finds himself in hot water not only with the main opposition party, but also with his own ruling party.
Takuo Komori, parliamentary vice minister for internal affairs, bows after speaking to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2024
Two Abe faction members resign as vice ministers over funds scandal
The latest development in the scandal currently enveloping the LDP comes as the opposition is expected to gear up its criticism of the ruling party.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivers a policy speech during a plenary session of the Lower House in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 30, 2024
Kishida comes full circle in policy speech with emphasis on 'power'
Amid low approval ratings and soul-searching for the ruling party, the prime minister made "power" a key theme in his policy speech.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a Lower House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Monday
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 29, 2024
Japan's opposition eyes united front on political funds reform
Lawmakers are targeting cross-party cooperation on a variety of issues including the revision of the Political Funds Control Act.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Liberal Democratic Party Vice President Taro Aso and LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi attend a party meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 26, 2024
LDP faction shake-up damages prospects of Kishida rivals
Numerous LDP lawmakers have announced they will leave their factions, weakening faction leaders who had been seen as possible Kishida successors.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (left), Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the party's vice president, Taro Aso, attend a party reform panel in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 25, 2024
LDP’s reform report appears light on firm actions targeting faction politics
Two weeks of hurried debate is unlikely to eradicate factionalism, which has long been seen as a defining trait of the party, experts say.
Kochikai, formerly led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, meets in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 23, 2024
LDP agrees to reshape factions and toughen rules on political funding
It remains unclear, however, whether this move will lead to a substantial reform of the party's faction-oriented politics.
As the political upheaval continues, the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is readying itself for the release of a party political reform panel’s report on the slush funds scandal and its recommendations for ensuring it doesn’t happen again.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 22, 2024
Kishida's LDP factions gamble fails to improve his popularity
A Yomiuri Shimbun poll conducted over the weekend found the Kishida Cabinet’s approval rating was 24%, the lowest since the LDP returned to power in 2012.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the dissolution of his LDP faction on Friday, marking a significant shift in the wake of a political funding scandal.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 22, 2024
Mired in scandal, the LDP chips away at its factions
Three LDP factions, including Kishida's, announced their dissolution last week. While it's unlikely that all groupings will meet the same fate, reform is in the air.
Ryu Shionoya (left), chairman of the Abe faction, and former parliamentary affairs chief Tsuyoshi Takagi bow during a news conference on Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 20, 2024
Record-low public support sends shockwaves through LDP
The falling support for the LDP is primarily due to a political funds scandal involving the party's powerful factions.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Jan. 4.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 20, 2024
Kishida takes risky gamble by dissolving LDP faction
Members of the factions led by LDP Vice President Taro Aso and Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi have resisted following suit, potentially endangering the PM.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s sudden announcement on Thursday regarding the dissolution of his Liberal Democratic Party faction came after the group became caught up in a slush funds scandal that continues to shake his administration and the party.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 19, 2024
LDP turmoil continues as three major factions announce dissolution
Lawmakers from the 98-member political faction that was previously led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the decision during a meeting Friday night.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference on Dec. 13.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2024
Kishida aims to disband his faction amid political funds scandals
The move would mark a bid to restore public trust toward politics amid a series of political funds scandals.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida referred to the underreporting by the faction that he previously led as “a series of administrative errors” and added that the group was going to make necessary amendments on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2024
LDP political funds probe nears close with top lawmakers likely unscathed
Clerical staff of LDP factions will likely face indictment over underreporting of revenues in political funds reports, while party heavyweights will emerge largely unscathed.
After two meetings of an ad-hoc panel established by party leader and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this month, fissures between lawmakers have emerged, and at the moment the outcome of the debate remains hard to predict.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 17, 2024
Dissolving factions becomes focus of LDP funding scandal task force
The discussions have led to divisions between lawmakers, and at the moment the outcome of the debate remains hard to predict.
The Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo. In the wake of a political funding scandal, some are calling for the dissolution of the LDP's factions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 16, 2024
Eliminating factions isn’t the answer to the funding scandal
In the wake of a political funding scandal that has embroiled the LDP, some are calling for the dissolution of the party's factions. That would be a mistake.

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