On Wednesday, during his address to Japan’s parliament, known as the National Diet, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed his willingness to create new laws and regulations aimed at monitoring and restricting funding for political groups. When asked about the possibility of external audits looking into political organizations, including formal political factions, the prime minister stated that “this would be meaningful in terms of strengthening public trust.”
However, Prime Minister Kishida refrained from voicing support for a political ethics committee investigation into Liberal Democratic Party members caught up in a slush-fund scandal, saying it was a matter that should be determined by parliament itself.
All this comes off the back of a political funds scandal which has rocked the ruling LDP. Over the last few weeks, the Prime Minister and his cabinet have been reeling from an internal faction of the LDP allegedly taking money for their campaigns illegally. The scandal has seen immense pressure on political leadership to reform and disastorous approval ratings for Prime Minister Kishida.
