TOKYO: Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is concerned that it will face headwinds in three parliamentary by-elections in April as the party is under fire over a political funds scandal involving its intraparty factions.

Some LDP members are proposing that the party forgo fielding a candidate in at least one of the April 28 by-elections in the Nagasaki No. 3, Tokyo No. 15 and Shimane No. 1 constituencies for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament.

The Nagasaki race is designed to fill the vacancy left by the departure of Yaichi Tanigawa, a former LDP member who quit the Lower House over the funds scandal. On Wednesday, LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi and election strategy chief Yuko Obuchi met with the head of the party’s Nagasaki prefectural chapter, but they did not reach a conclusion on whether to field a candidate in the constituency.

Any LDP candidate in the constituency is expected to face harsh criticism over the funds scandal. In addition, if an LDP candidate wins, there will be a need to coordinate with incumbents in the prefecture in the next Lower House election as the number of Nagasaki constituencies is reduced by one.

“We don’t need to field a candidate” in the Nagasaki by-election, an LDP official said.

The Tokyo election comes after former LDP member Mito Kakizawa resigned as a Lower House lawmaker over a vote-buying scandal involving a ward mayoral election. Voters in the No. 15 constituency are expected to be especially sensitive to money scandals after a local LDP incumbent was found guilty of bribery charges in 2021.

“It’s impossible to lose both (Nagasaki and Tokyo) by default,” Motegi said. But the LDP is struggling to nominate a candidate in the Tokyo constituency.

The LDP has already chosen a candidate in the Shimane constituency where the election will be held to fill the seat vacated by the death of former Lower House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda. Shimane is known as a stronghold of conservatives, but the party is not fully optimistic after an LDP-backed incumbent lost a mayoral election in Gunma Prefecture, near Tokyo, earlier this month.

The outcome of the three by-elections could affect the fortune of Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio, who faces a re-election bid in the LDP’s presidential race this autumn.

In 2021, Kishida’s predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, was forced to abandon his re-election bid for the LDP presidency as his clout was weakened after the LDP lost all three parliamentary polls in the spring.

“There is a strong sense of crisis especially among middle-ranking and young members,” a middle-ranking LDP official said. If the party loses all three by-elections in April, “a move to oust Kishida may emerge,” the official said.

JIJI Press