DPFP, Komeito Eying Joint Bill to Regulate Political Donations

Tokyo, Oct. 24 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese opposition Democratic Party for the People and former ruling coalition member Komeito have agreed to jointly submit a bill to regulate political donations to the ongoing extraordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament. According to the agreement reached Thursday, the bill to amend the political funds control law would call for limiting the recipients of donations from companies and other organizations to political parties’ headquarters and prefectural branches. The leading opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan looks in favor of the envisaged DPFP-Komeito legislation while the ruling Liberal Democratic Party strongly opposes it. The current rules allow corporations and other organizations to make political donations worth up to between 7.5 million and 100 million yen a year depending on their size and other factors. The DPFP and Komeito propose setting an upper limit of 20 million yen for donations to the same recipient while keeping the total annual limits unchanged. At a meeting held at the parliament, DPFP acting chief Motohisa Furukawa and Makoto Nishida, secretary-general of Komeito, which ended its coalition partnership with the LDP earlier this month, agreed to swiftly finalize the bill and submit it to the extraordinary Diet session running through Dec. 17. In talks with reporters, Furukawa called on parties in both the ruling and opposition camps to support the legislation. Komeito had urged the LDP to accept its plan to limit the recipients of donations from companies and other organizations. But the LDP rejected the proposal, which partly helped Komeito decide on its departure from the ruling bloc. Meanwhile, CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda has hinted at supporting the DPFP-Komeito legislation. The CDP has called for banning political donations from companies. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]