In a global year of elections, Japan’s long-serving Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has suffered its second-worst result on record. The snap poll on October 27 was intended to secure the mandate of Ishiba Shigeru, selected prime minister just a few weeks before. Instead, his party was trounced.
The LDP lost 68 seats, reducing it from a secure majority of 259 parliamentarians into a struggling minority power. Its coalition partner, Komeito, fared even worse. One-quarter of its MPs were ejected, including recently elected party leader Ishii Keiichi. The LDP had to strike a deal with a third party so it could carry on as a minority government.
Slush fund scandals fueled the electoral drubbing, as LDP politicians failed to report the leftovers from excess ticket sales at fundraising events. $3.5 million allegedly went unaccounted for and possibly into the pockets of lawmakers, with over 180 LDP members implicated.
In a global year of elections, Japan’s long-serving Liberal Democratic Party has suffered its second-worst defeat on record.
While the amount at stake is substantially greater than the wardrobe revamps that British Labour Party officials received from party donors, it still pales in comparison with the Japanese money machine of the past, when prime ministers had control over personal slush funds worth millions of dollars and former politicians could be found stocking gold bars in their homes. But such practices are still against the law, and the populace has shown much less tolerance of such behavior as the decades of economic stagnation wear…
Auteur: Kristin Surak
