Four Japanese ministers resigned on Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced his desire to address a huge financial fraud scandal within his party that is making his political situation even more delicate.
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“I have submitted my resignation to the prime minister,” said Mr. Kishida's right-hand man, secretary-general and government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno, on Thursday morning, citing the suspicions he himself faces.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, Interior Minister Junji Suzuki and Agriculture Minister Ichiro Miyashita also resigned, along with five vice ministers and other officials.
According to the Japanese press, prosecutors are investigating suspected fraud against dozens of members of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD, right-wing conservative) led by Mr. Kishida, a political group that has ruled the country almost continuously since its founding in 1955.
According to several media outlets, these members of the PLD are suspected of not having declared the equivalent of several million euros collected through the sale of tickets to charity evenings and then paid out to them by the party.
The investigators are particularly interested in members of the largest internal party faction surrounding former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was murdered last year. They would have received around 500 million yen (3.2 million euros) over a period of five years until 2022.
Unpopular “fireball”
Mr. Kishida, 66, judged “extremely regrettable that the situation has aroused distrust among the population” and vowed on Wednesday to “turn into a ball of fire to restore confidence in the government” and announced that he would “move quickly “I want new appointments on Thursday.
This affair has “further significantly weakened public support for the LDP and the Kishida government,” said Naofumi Fujimura, a political science professor at Kobe University (West).
The prime minister, who came to power in the fall of 2021 and was already unpopular before the media gradually brought this new scandal to light for several weeks, is only supported by 17.1% of voters, according to a poll published on Thursday by the Jiji news agency supports .
Voters are “expressing concern about the scandal and the perceived lack of accountability of political leaders.” However, given the low popularity of opposition political parties, this is unlikely to lead to political change in Japan, Fujimura said.
All of the ministers set to be replaced belong to the “Abe faction,” although the scandal would also involve members of Mr. Kishida’s group, according to local media.
Powerful Abe faction
The PLD factions, which grew out of the parties that came together to form them, are internal coalitions organized around charismatic figures who lure members by promising them electoral support and ministerial posts.
Even a year and a half after the former leader's death, none of Abe's faction is in power: “Its strength lies in the considerable number of its members” (99), explains Mr. Fujimura, according to whom “this numerical superiority allowed him to have considerable influence over electing the Prime Minister and maintaining the government.
By expelling its members, Mr. Kishida risks losing the support of the influential Abe faction, and “this break could make it more difficult to run” the government, this Japanese politics specialist adds.
Even before this scandal, Mr. Kishida's popularity rating was hit by other areas of discontent among Japanese people, including persistent inflation and the decline of the yen, which are weakening household purchasing power, even though he announced a massive new stimulus plan last month.
The prime minister can theoretically remain in power until 2025, but some analysts are speculating about the possible calling of early elections ahead of an internal vote in the PLD next year, which could prove very difficult for him.