Difficult to Specify Schedule for Political Donation Reform: Takaichi

Tokyo, Nov. 13 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Thursday that it is difficult at the moment to specify a schedule for carrying out reform of political donations from corporations and other organizations. “This is an issue related to freedom of political activities (of corporations and other organizations), so careful discussions are necessary,” Takaichi said at a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, responding to a question from Hirotaka Ishikawa of Komeito, the former coalition ally of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Reform of such donations is part of the coalition agreement between the LDP and its new partner, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party). “It is uncertain whether it will take my whole tenure (as LDP president through September 2027) to realize the reform,” Takaichi said, adding, “It is natural for us to speed up discussions as much as possible.” The LDP-Nippon Ishin coalition deal also calls on the two parties to aim for reducing the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, by 10 pct The prime minister said the 10 pct reduction was strongly pushed by Nippon Ishin, which argues that cutting the number of Lower House seats is the party’s “top priority among painful reform measures” for lawmakers. The LDP accepted the Nippon Ishin demand as it thought the size of reduction is appropriate, according to Takaichi, also president of the LDP. Ishikawa criticized the seat reduction plan, saying, “There are no clear grounds for the 10 pct cut.” Answering a question from Yoshifumi Hamano of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, Takaichi said, “We will strongly support small firms and micro-businesses (in realizing sustainable wage hikes).” Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, asked by Hamano about the Japanese government potentially defaulting on bond redemptions, said, “It is normally difficult to assume (such a possibility) as Japanese government bonds are denominated in yen and most of them are owned by domestic holders.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]