Ishiba: "No Violation of Political Funds Control Act"
Nikkei Points Out Inevitable Impact on Administration
Pressure for Resignation Expected to Intensify
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stated on the 3rd that there is "no legal problem" regarding his distribution of gift certificates to first-term members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the House of Representatives. As criticism pours in both inside and outside the party over the legality of the gift certificate distribution, it is expected that Prime Minister Ishiba's approval ratings will decline and pressure for his resignation will increase.
According to Kyodo News and Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 13th, a secretary to Prime Minister Ishiba visited the offices of the lawmakers individually before a prime ministerial meeting on the 3rd and handed over gift certificates worth about 100,000 yen (approximately 1 million KRW). Considering that around 15 first-term lawmakers attended the meeting, the total amount of gift certificates is estimated to be several million yen. Most of the lawmakers who received the gift certificates reportedly returned them to Prime Minister Ishiba's office.
At around 11:20 p.m. that day, Prime Minister Ishiba unusually met with the press at his official residence and acknowledged the distribution of the gift certificates but insisted, "This is not a donation for political activities," and claimed, "There is no legal problem."
He said, "I prepared it at my own expense from the perspective of consolation for families," and apologized, saying, "I am very sorry for causing concern to many people." He denied the possibility of resignation.
Currently, discussions on reforming corporate and organizational donations are underway in the House of Representatives. Nikkei pointed out that although Prime Minister Ishiba denied the illegality of distributing the gift certificates, the incident is inevitably expected to affect the administration. Nikkei also noted that according to Article 21 of the Political Funds Control Act, except for election campaigns, monetary or other donations from individuals to politicians for political activities are prohibited, and donations in the form of securities such as gift certificates are also banned, raising concerns that the distribution of gift certificates may violate this law.
Criticism also came from opposition parties. Hiroshi Okushi, acting leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party, said, "Please properly explain why you can assert that there is no legal problem," adding, "Depending on the explanation, this could lead to questioning the prime minister's suitability."
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the third opposition party, the Democratic Party for the People, which cooperated with the LDP on policy matters, also criticized, saying, "If true, it would be difficult for him to remain in the prime minister position."
This incident is also expected to affect Prime Minister Ishiba's already sluggish approval ratings. According to a separate interview survey conducted by Jiji Press from the 7th to the 10th of this month with 1,186 respondents, the approval rating for the Ishiba Cabinet was 27.9%, down 0.6 percentage points from the previous month.
The negative evaluation of not supporting the Ishiba Cabinet increased by 4.0 percentage points from the previous month to 44.1%, the highest figure since the Ishiba administration began last October.
Sh?ji Nishida, a member of the House of Councillors, demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Ishiba, who is effectively the party president, saying the day before, "We cannot fight the House of Councillors election under the current system."
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