Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gives a speech in support of Anri Kawai during the Upper House election campaign in Hiroshima in July 2019. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

An unprecedented scandal has dealt a serious blow to people’s trust in the fairness of the election system, which is the foundation of democracy, and to the credibility of politics.

Lower House member Katsuyuki Kawai, who was responsible as justice minister for the administration of the legal system only eight months ago, was arrested on July 18 along with Anri, his wife and an Upper House member, on suspicion of vote-buying.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office’s special investigation squad arrested the couple on suspicion of violating the Public Offices Election Law in relation to Anri’s successful election campaign in Hiroshima Prefecture in July 2019.

The two allegedly handed out about 25.7 million yen ($240,300) to 94 people, including prefectural assembly members, in illegal attempts to garner votes for Anri, who won her first seat in the election.

The scandal broke out in October with revelations the Anri campaign paid more than double the legal amount to staff who rode in campaign cars and shouted out the candidate’s name, which forced Katsuyuki to resign as justice minister.

As the scandal grew, the couple clammed up and remained mute about the allegations against them despite their pledges to fulfill their responsibility to the public by explaining what happened. They should be severely criticized for their silence.

Immediately before their arrest, the couple left the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, but only to avoid causing trouble to the party. Their behavior shows they have no comprehension of the heavy weight of their political responsibility.

At the outset of his news conference on June 18 on the end of the ordinary Diet session, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe referred to the arrests of the couple and described the news as “very regrettable.”

“I acutely feel responsibility as the one who appointed (Katsuyuki) as justice minister and offer my deep apologies to the people,” he said.

But Abe should be held responsible not just for appointing the disgraced politician to an important Cabinet post. Behind the scandal was apparently the Abe administration’s forcible attempt to win both Upper House seats contested in the Hiroshima electoral district by fielding Anri, a political neophyte, in addition to a party incumbent.

To support the campaign for Anri, who was endorsed as an LDP candidate less than four months before the official campaign period began, the party headquarters provided 150 million yen of political funds, 10 times more than the amount given to the incumbent, who failed to be re-elected.

It is difficult to dismiss the suspicions that the ample war chest led to unethical and allegedly illegal campaign tactics by giving the couple cash to hand out.

LDP Secretary-General Toshihiko Nikai has effectively denied the suspicions concerning the party’s heavy spending for the Anri campaign by pointing out that certified public accountants working at the party headquarters rigorously examine expenditures by local chapters.

Such money “cannot be used for the rumored purposes,” he told reporters.

Abe referred to Nikai's remarks at the news conference. But their oral explanations are hard to accept at face value.

Katsuyuki, who is said to have supervised the election campaign for his wife and played a leading role in the cash distribution, was close to Abe. He supported Abe as an assistant to the prime minister and a special diplomatic adviser to the LDP president.

Abe, for his part, was deeply involved in the Anri campaign as indicated by the fact that he sent his aides to Hiroshima Prefecture to support the campaign.

Both Abe and the party leadership are at least politically responsible for the scandal. If they claim the scandal had nothing to do with the money the party provided to the campaign, they should show how the cash was spent with convincing evidence to support their claims.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 19

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