LDP Worried over Impact of Fukuoka Assembly Scandal on Elections

Tokyo, Aug. 25 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is increasingly concerned over a possible impact of a money scandal at the Fukuoka prefectural assembly on its campaign for next spring’s unified local elections. Isao Kurauchi, head of the assembly of the southwestern Japan prefecture, announced Monday his intention to resign as a member of the assembly although he stopped short of specifying a reason for the move. Kurauchi, a member of the LDP, told reporters on Wednesday last week that he plans to step down as assembly head at an appropriate time to take responsibility for the turmoil at the assembly. Past heads and deputy heads of the assembly have stated that they had paid large amounts of cash to senior officials of the LDP group in the assembly before assuming their posts. The LDP’s headquarters has taken a wait-and-see stance over the Fukuoka assembly issue since it came to light in July. At a press conference Aug. 4, LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki said only, “The LDP’s Fukuoka prefectural chapter has great and strong autonomy.” The LDP is apparently concerned that if the party headquarters directly deals with the prefectural issue, it could be regarded as a problem for the party as a whole and may give it a heavy blow. Prime Minister and LDP President Sanae Takaichi has also kept a distance from the issue, saying, “It is important for the prefectural chapter to confirm the facts.” Meanwhile, the LDP leadership team is trying to prevent the impact of the scandal from spreading across the country, after the party suffered crushing defeats in the 2024 election for the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, or parliament, and the 2025 election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, in the wake of the high-profile “slush funds” scandal at LDP intraparty factions. An LDP official voiced concern about the possibility of the party facing dismal results again in the local elections next spring. The upcoming elections “would be tough,” the official said. The Japan Innovation Party, the LDP’s coalition partner, which has called for painful reforms, is critical of the scandal at the Fukuoka prefectural assembly. “The Fukuoka assembly has been the slowest to take reform measures, so it needs to be revamped,” JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura, also governor of Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, told reporters at the prefectural government office in the city of Osaka on Monday. Among opposition parties, Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, said at a press conference in the city of Fukuoka, the capital of Fukuoka Prefecture, on Monday that Kurauchi’s resignation will “not solve the essence of the problem.” At a separate press conference the same day, Akira Koike, head of the secretariat at the Japanese Communist Party, questioned the LDP’s stance, saying, “Will the party close ranks to defend (its prefectural members involved in the scandal)?” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]