Japan's "black gold" scandal continues to ferment, and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is going internal. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has only been in power for two years, may have his dream of "long-term governance" shattered in this turmoil.
Recently, the Constitutional Democratic Party, Japan's largest opposition party, submitted a no-confidence motion against the Kishida cabinet to the House of Representatives, which was vetoed. However, the scandal has already endangered both the "Kishida faction" and Kishida himself.
The starting point of this turmoil was a denunciation by professors at Japanese universities that various factions of the Liberal Democratic Party had concealed their political fund income. Later, according to the investigation, the largest faction of the Liberal Democratic Party, the "** faction", became the target of public criticism. From 2018 to 2022, the "black gold" of "* pie" reached about 500 million yen, equivalent to about 24 million yuan.
The political scandal has made Kishida's approval rating even worse, what is the ** of these secret funds?Under normal circumstances, political parties and politicians hold various rallies and banquets in order to raise the necessary funds, and those who participate must buy ** tickets, which are the fees paid to political parties and politicians.
Different factions and politicians within a political party have different sales targets for admission tickets, and the more authoritative the group or individual, the higher the sales target. In addition, the sale of admission tickets must be registered and must not exceed the specified sales target.
But the reality is that these revenues often exceed sales targets, and a portion of the excess is sent to a politician through a variety of covert means, rather than being used for public use.
The Kishida Cabinet includes Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshi Matsuno.
1. A number of members, including Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasunori Nishimura, are suspected of accepting illegal political funds without permission.
At present, the approval rating of Kishida's cabinet hovers around 22%, which has fallen to the bottom, which means that Kishida will have to reshuffle the cabinet again and replace scandal-ridden members.
If the approval rating of the Kishida cabinet falls below 20%, it is almost a certainty, but the bad impact of the matter is still spreading. First of all, even if Kishida reshuffles his cabinet, it will be difficult to erase the negative impression of the public, after all, "secret political money" is a typical political scandal, and the Japanese people, regardless of their political affiliation, are very reluctant to let this happen. Not only the cabinet, but also Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party will usher in a situation of approval rating.
More importantly, due to the loss of public trust, the policies issued by the Kishida cabinet in the future will also attract more doubts, leading to difficulties in governance.
Second, as the approval rating of Kishida's cabinet falls to the bottom, Kishida's opposition within the LDP will grow. At this stage, many members of the Liberal Democratic Party believe that Kishida is no longer suitable to serve as the president of the Liberal Democratic Party.
It is not difficult to understand the ** within the Liberal Democratic Party, after all, polls show that nearly 88% of people believe that Fumio Kishida, as the president of the Liberal Democratic Party, is to blame for these scandals, and believes that there are problems with Fumio Kishida's management style.
Therefore, if the scandal gets out of control, Kishida** and abandon the car to protect the handsome will be in the overall interests of the Liberal Democratic Party.
The LDP's "** faction" rally is expected to hold a presidential election next year, but even now, it is uncertain whether Kishida will be able to maintain his position. As the investigation deepens, the "Kishida faction" has also been exposed to concealing political fund income, and Kishida may be forced to resign, or take the initiative to sacrifice himself to save the overall image of the LDP.
In fact, Fumio Kishida has always had the dream of "long-term governance", and from his coming to power in 2021 to the recent cabinet reshuffle, he has been making arrangements in this regard. But now, that dream could be shattered.
It is worth mentioning that if Kishida reshuffles the cabinet again, then all the members of the "** faction" will be replaced. Combined with Kishida's previous two cabinet reshuffles, it is a general trend that the members of the "* faction" are getting fewer and fewer. With the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo, there is no successor to the "* faction", and its influence is declining.
This scandal, the "* faction" was the first to be impacted, and it is also a microcosm of "the tree is falling and scattering", and it also indicates that the dominance of the "** faction" in the Liberal Democratic Party is slowly dying out. This can be seen from the fierce struggle between political parties and factions in Japan.