Komeito May Decide Whether to Maintain Coalition with LDP on Friday

Tokyo, Oct. 9 (Jiji Press)–Komeito may decide whether the Japanese political party will maintain its coalition with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party based on a meeting of their leaders slated for Friday afternoon, Komeito chief Tetsuo Saito indicated Thursday. Saito showed the plan at a meeting held Thursday evening with representatives of Komeito’s prefectural branches across the country. The meeting was for collecting opinions of local officials about the advisability of Komeito maintaining the ruling coalition with the LDP. Friday’s meeting will be held between Saito and Sanae Takaichi, who was elected LDP president Saturday to succeed Shigeru Ishiba, also outgoing prime minister of the country. As Saito maintains a hard-line stance, including by leaving open the possibility of his party exiting the coalition, the LDP-Komeito alliance, which has lasted over a quarter century, is now at a critical juncture. At Thursday’s meeting with local officials, Saito said that there is “a large gap” between his party and the LDP over the issue of politics and money, apparently having in mind the strengthening of regulations on political donations by companies and other organizations and the high-profile “slush funds” scandal at the LDP. He then showed a policy of Komeito not cooperating with the LDP in upcoming parliamentary votes to elect the country’s new prime minister unless the LDP gives a sufficient explanation over the matter. In response, many local officials called for Komeito to take a firm stance against the LDP. Komeito later held a meeting of the Central Secretariat, its top decision-making body for policy and regulations, with participants agreeing to leave future responses up to Saito and other party executives. The Central Secretariat also held a meeting Thursday morning, but was unable to reach a conclusion on whether to maintain the ruling coalition with the LDP. “I hope that the LDP shows a firm stance on the issue of politics and money,” Saito said at the morning meeting. “We can come up with tighter regulations if the LDP makes a decision,” he said about political donations from corporations and other organizations. “The LDP and Komeito have fulfilled their responsibilities to the nation and the people over the past 26 years,” a participating member said. “So we have to make a decision carefully after continuing in-depth discussions,” the member said, stressing the importance of Komeito remaining in the ruling coalition. On the other hand, another participant said, “We may have no choice but to disband the coalition unless the issue of politics and money is sorted out.” Takaichi and Saito met Tuesday. Saito urged the new LDP leader to agree on Komeito’s proposal to limit the recipients of donations from corporations and other organizations to political parties’ headquarters and prefectural chapters. Saito also called on Takaichi to uncover the whole truth of the slush funds scandal. Takaichi and Saito deferred a decision on whether the LDP and Komeito will maintain their coalition. Appearing in a television program Thursday evening, Takaichi said that the LDP-Komeito coalition is the most fundamental thing and that she will work hard to help the two parties reach policy agreements early. On Komeito’s demands related to the issue of politics and money, however, Takaichi said only that she will instruct LDP staff in charge to fully consider the requests. Takaichi also met with former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who has strong connections with Komeito, at the parliament. They apparently exchanged views on the LDP-Komeito talks over the coalition. After that, she met with Fumio Kishida, another former prime minister. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]