Japan PM Kishida to axe ministers as fundraising scandal swirls
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Mr Kishida is scheduled to hold a press conference on the evening of Dec 13 on his response to the fundraising scandal.
PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Dec 13 announced he would make changes to his Cabinet as he seeks to stem the fallout from a fund-raising scandal
The premier told a press conference he would make the changes on Dec 14, just three months after a previous Cabinet overhaul.
“I will take the lead in fighting to rebuild the ways of the Liberal Democratic Party to restore trust in politics,” he said, referring to his ruling LDP party.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, a powerful figure who coordinates policy across government on his behalf, is among four ministers and several deputy ministers expected to go, according to media reports.
Mr Kishida said the changes were still being finalised.
The shake-up comes as prosecutors investigate whether some lawmakers in the ruling party received thousands of dollars in fundraising proceeds missing from official party accounts, according to media reports.
But analysts say a Cabinet clearout is unlikely to draw a line under a scandal that has raised serious questions about Mr Kishida’s leadership and thrown his government into disarray.
Mr Koichi Hagiuda, a high-ranking official from LDP who oversees budget proposals, has decided to resign, broadcaster NHK and Kyodo news agency reported.
Mr Kishida is also considering shelving a planned trip to Brazil and Chile in January 2024, the Mainichi newspaper said.
“At this stage, the most Mr Kishida can hope for is to arrest the current decline in his personal support,” said associate professor Corey Wallace of political science and international relations at Kanagawa University.
“Increasing it, however, will require more than cosmetic changes to personnel.”
Public support for Mr Kishida’s administration has slipped as low as 23 per cent in recent polls, the lowest since he came to office in 2021.
He has twice reshuffled his Cabinet, replacing ministers linked to a previous scandal in late 2022, and again in September as he looked to shore up his sagging ratings.
Support for his ruling LDP has fallen below 30 per cent for the first time since 2012, when it returned to power after a blip in its near total post-war dominance of Japanese politics, an NHK survey on Dec 12 showed.
Mr Kishida does not need to call an election until October 2025, and a fractured and weak opposition has historically struggled to make sustained inroads into the LDP’s hold on power despite its at times fractious factional politics.
While the prosecutors’ probe centres on lawmakers from LDP’s powerful Seiwa-kai faction, investigators are also looking into whether Mr Kishida’s former faction - which he headed until last week - is also involved, according to media reports.
Mr Matsuno and the three other Cabinet ministers expected to be replaced all hail from the Seiwa-kai faction, often referred to as the “Abe faction” after late prime minister Shinzo Abe.
Ex-foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who belongs to Mr Kishida’s former faction, is being lined up to replace Mr Matsuno, several news outlets reported.
The factions are alleged to have hidden hundreds of millions of yen of political funds over years in a scheme that saw some lawmakers receiving proceeds from ticket sales to party events that were kept off the books.
The LDP is due to hold leadership elections in September, but analysts say it remains to be seen how long Mr Kishida can hold on to his post, especially if he becomes directly implicated in one of the party’s biggest financial scandals in decades.
The main opposition party earlier on Dec 13 submitted a motion of no-confidence in Mr Kishida’s administration that was comfortably voted down in a Parliament where the LDP and coalition partner Komeito have a clear majority.
“Prime Minister, aren’t you aware that the LDP and its factions caused an unparalleled scandal? Isn’t the lack of your crisis control capability catastrophic?” Mr Kenta Izumi, head of the opposition, said in Parliament ahead of the vote. REUTERS
