Tokyo, Oct. 20 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s internal affairs ministry on Tuesday distributed the third installment of state subsidies for political parties, with the nearly defunct opposition Centrist Reform Alliance receiving 584 million yen. While the CRA effectively disbanded itself in September, only one lawmaker, So Watanabe, a member of the House of Representatives, has remained in the party so that it would be able to receive the subsidies and use the money to pay costs related to the February general election for the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament. The party’s receipt of the state subsidies has drawn strong criticism as it has virtually ceased activities. All CRA lawmakers other than Watanabe left the party. Of them, Lower House lawmakers who are originally from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan formed the Democratic Reform Party. But no subsidies were paid to the new opposition party. The Japanese Communist Party, which opposes the political subsidy system, did not apply for the state money. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party received 3.84 billion yen in subsidies this time, and its Japan Innovation Party ally was given 703 million yen. On the opposition side, the amount of subsidies came to 779 million yen for the CDP, 678 million yen for the Democratic Party for the People, 497 million yen for Sanseito, 349 million yen for Komeito, 175 million yen for Inochi no To, 142 million yen for Team Mirai, 73 million yen for the Conservative Party of Japan and 57 million yen for the Social Democratic Party. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
