A scene from a local media report that the Abe faction, the largest faction of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has decided to disband./NHK
Three of the six major factions in Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, including the Abe faction, the largest faction, and the Kishida faction, to which current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida belonged until recently, declared disbandment on the 19th. As the prosecution investigated the illegal creation of slush funds centered around each faction within the party, factional politics took a direct hit to the point of disintegration.
According to the Nippon Keizai Shimbun, former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ryu Shionoya, leader of the Abe faction, announced the dissolution of the faction at a press conference after holding an extraordinary general meeting of the faction, saying, “I sincerely apologize for betraying the public trust.” The Abe faction is the largest faction within the Liberal Democratic Party, with 98 members. It was launched in 1979 as Seiwakai (清和会). On this day, Prime Minister Kishida also announced that he would disband the Kishida faction (official name ‘Kochi Policy Research Association’), which he led until last month. The Kishida faction (46 members) was the fourth faction in the party. In addition, former secretary-general Toshihiro Nikai, chairman of the party’s fifth faction, the Nikai faction (38 members), held a press conference that day and announced that he would disband the Nikai faction in connection with the political funding issue. As a result, there were three major factions remaining in the Liberal Democratic Party: Aso faction (56 members), Motegi faction (53 members), and Moriyama faction (8 members). Nihon Keizai said, “Movements to disband the faction may spread.”
On this day, the Tokyo District Prosecutors’ Office Special Department indicted the Abe and Nikai faction’s accounting officers without detention on charges of violating the Political Fund Regulation Act, and summarily indicted the Kishida faction’s former accounting director. Over the five years from 2018 to 2022, the Abe faction raised 675.03 million yen (about 6.1 billion won), the Nikai faction raised 264.6 million yen (about 2.4 billion won), and the Kishida faction raised 30.59 million yen (about 280 million won). He was accused of defunding the fund without recording it in the budget report or individual member’s accounting ledger. However, the prosecution decided not to indict seven Abe faction executives and former secretary-general Nikai, among other factional leaders, as they judged that it would be difficult to prove their collusion with the accounting manager.
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2024-01-19 13:52:30
