TOKYO: The Japanese government and ruling bloc have taken aggressive measures to have the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the country’s parliament, pass the fiscal 2024 budget, in the face of opposition forces’ growing criticism over a high-profile political funds scandal involving factions of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Behind the move is Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio’s desire to save his face and prevent the support rate for his administration from falling any further.

Meanwhile, Kishida’s explanation about the scandal has so far done little to help reveal the truth about the alleged slush funds, and the forcible parliament management by the government and ruling camp has created a turmoil. There are a number of lawmakers, even in the LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, who question Kishida’s leadership.

Deepening Mystery over Mori’s Involvement

“We cannot allow politics to stagnate. The next fiscal year’s budget must be passed on time,” Kishida told the Lower House’s Deliberative Council on Political Ethics on Thursday, expressing eagerness to have the lower chamber pass the fiscal 2024 budget by Saturday so that it would be automatically enacted by the March 31 end of the current fiscal year.

Kishida unexpectedly decided to make the appearance before the ethics council at a time when the government was unable to take sufficient steps to uncover the truth about the scandal and it was certain that his centripetal force would weaken if the government also fails to enact the budget within fiscal 2023.

However, Kishida, also president of the LDP, failed to clarify the actual picture of his party’s scandal and the two-day ethics council hearings through Friday ended up leaving more questions unanswered.

SHIONOYA Ryu, who previously headed the decision-making body of the LDP’s biggest faction, told a hearing at the council Friday that the faction’s practice of kicking back revenues from fundraising parties to member lawmakers started over 20 years ago. Opposition forces questioned why the LDP did not conduct an interview with former Prime Minister MORI Yoshiro, who chaired the faction back then.

Former industry minister NISHIMURA Yasutoshi, who also appeared before the council, admitted indirectly that the LDP’s investigation into the problem was insufficient, saying, “If we ask (Mori), we may be told that we’ve made a secret arrangement.”

“Never Compromise,” Kishida Says

The LDP set the schedule of the Lower House vote on the fiscal 2024 budget for Friday as soon as the prime minister’s ethics council hearing was over.

To delay the vote, opposition forces submitted a motion to dismiss the chairman of the Lower House Budget Committee, and an opposition lawmaker delivered a speech on the motion for about three hours at a Lower House plenary meeting.

Before these moves, working-level officials of ruling and opposition parties had come up with a plan to put the budget to a vote in the Lower House Monday, instead of sticking to the schedule for automatic enactment.

A senior opposition lawmaker who belongs to the House of Councillors, the upper parliamentary chamber, said: “I thought it was quite possible to hold intensive deliberations on the budget in the Upper House and enact it by the end of this fiscal year. The LDP’s move was unexpected.”

It was Kishida who insisted on ensuring the budget’s enactment by the fiscal year-end, sources close to the prime minister said.

“The prime minister instructed LDP members never to compromise” on the schedule, a senior member of opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) said.

AZUMI Jun, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s parliamentary affairs chief, said of Kishida, “He is a terrible prime minister if he thinks he can tell others to get things right because he went as far as appearing before the ethics council.”

“Under the current situation, if the budget is not enacted by the end of this fiscal year, calls would grow for his resignation,” a key government official said, offering the view that Kishida was desperate to avoid such risk.

Moving Away from Kishida

While Kishida is gradually losing his centripetal force within the government and ruling bloc, LDP Secretary-General MOTEGI Toshimitsu does not seem to be making efforts to remedy the situation.

“It’s obvious that no one supports the prime minister,” a senior government official said.

There is speculation among LDP members that Kishida may dissolve the Lower House for a snap election by the end of the current parliamentary session against all odds, after his recent surprise decisions to dissolve his faction and appear before the ethics panel himself.

“We won’t let the prime minister dissolve (the Lower House),” an LDP member who once served as minister said. “We can’t leave it to the prime minister anymore.”

JIJI Press