LDP agrees with Komeito on identifying buyers of party tickets above ¥50,000; Komeito and Ishin Support Political Fund Reform Draft

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi on Friday to discuss proposals for a bill to revise the Political Funds Control Law. He said the Liberal Democratic Party would accept two things demanded by its junior coalition partner.

The main proposal Komeito is calling for is to lower the disclosure threshold for the names of political fundraiser ticket buyers to more than ¥50,000.

Kishida, who is also president of the LDP, also held talks with Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) leader Nobuyuki Baba and agreed to mirror Ishin’s demands. Komeito and Ishin are both expected to support the LDP’s draft, which reflects their requests.

After the meeting with Kishida, Yamaguchi praised the LDP’s move.

“I understand that this reflects the bold decision we were looking for, and we pay special attention to such a move,” the Komeito leader said at the prime minister’s office.

The LDP had proposed requiring disclosure of the identities of those who purchase more than ¥100,000 worth of fundraising party tickets per event. As conditions for agreeing to a bill to revise the law, Komeito had requested that the LDP further lower the disclosure threshold and that an external organization be established to monitor expenditures and other matters to ensure transparency on the use of funds for improve expenditure on political activities. , which political parties provide to their individual legislators.

The LDP approved both requests.

Within the LDP, some members were very cautious about lowering the disclosure threshold to more than ¥50,000, and there were conflicting opinions even among party officials.

However, because the LDP does not have a majority in the House of Councilors, Kishida made the final decision, realizing that Komeito’s cooperation would be indispensable to realize the law reform.

During the meeting with Baba in the Diet Building, Kishida entered into a written agreement on the following three points:

• Establishing an annual ceiling on expenditure on political activities and making receipts and other documents relating to such expenditure public after ten years.

• Elimination of preferential tax treatment for when lawmakers donate to political organizations they represent.

• Taking legislative action to mandate disclosure of how a monthly stipend given to lawmakers for research, study, public relations and housing is used, and the return of unused portions to the national treasury. The amount was previously known as document, correspondence, travel and subsistence expenses.

All this was demanded by Ishin. Now that Ishin has accepted concessions from the LDP, the party plans to vote in favor of the law revision bill.

The LDP aims to achieve the law reform based on a broad consensus, not just from the ruling bloc, and has therefore attached importance to gaining support from the opposition parties.

At Friday’s meeting of the House of Representatives Special Committee on Political Reforms, the LDP was expected to formally present its draft to reflect what was discussed earlier in the day during meetings with Komeito and Ishin leaders.

The committee is expected to debate the revised draft early next week. The LDP aims to have the legislation passed by the lower house in the first half of next week.