Japan Diet Starts Debates on Corporate Donation Reform Bills

Tokyo, Dec. 4 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Diet on Wednesday started deliberations on three bills related to reform of political donations from companies and other organizations, at the political reform special committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the parliament. The committee is also expected to handle a bill linked to a cut in the number of Lower House seats, which is planned to be submitted within this week by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its new coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai. Opposition parties are demanding that the committee give priority to deliberations on the political donation bills over the Lower House seat reduction legislation. But the ruling side has avoided making a clear response to the opposition demand, leaving the course of the committee’s deliberations uncertain. At a meeting Wednesday, executives of the committee agreed to hold a session Thursday in which each caucus in the Lower House will present its view on the issue of politics and money. However, the ruling bloc did not give an explicit answer to opposition parties’ demand that a question-and-answer session over the political donation bills be held Friday. Some speculate that with only about two weeks left until the Dec. 17 end of the current extraordinary Diet session, the ruling side is attempting to handle its bill first while putting the political donation bills on the back burner Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, criticized the attitude of the ruling coalition, saying at a party meeting Wednesday, “It’s only natural to give priority to bills that would help resolve the issue of politics and money.” One of the three bills was submitted jointly by the DPFP and Komeito, which has dissolved its coalition with the LDP and is now in the opposition side. The bill to amend the political funds control law calls for limiting the recipients of donations from companies and other organizations to political parties’ headquarters and prefectural chapters. One of the other two bills, presented by the LDP, obliges political party branches that receive donations from corporations and other organizations to submit political funds reports online. The remaining bill, submitted by the LDP-JIP coalition, calls for setting up a third-party committee at the Diet for discussions to explore appropriate ways to regulate donations from companies and other organizations. The bill spells out that the third-party committee should reach a conclusion by September 2027, when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s term as LDP president expires. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]