Prime Minister Fumio Kishida appears caught between a rock and a hard place.

While trying to restore public trust in politics rocked by a funding scandal, he has also tried to appease various elements in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

He seems to be failing on all fronts.

Kishida’s latest move came on Jan. 22 at a meeting held by the LDP’s political reform task force, which was set up to prevent a repeat of the money-in-politics scandal.

At the beginning of the meeting, which was open to all LDP politicians, Kishida, who heads the task force, gave a speech.

“The other day, I announced the dissolution of the faction with which I was associated,” he said. “I dare to say that as a faction, we must come to a ‘clean break.’ With that in mind, I discussed the matter with senior members of the faction and, after consulting with them, I decided to dissolve the faction.”

Pro-faction politicians said Kishida, seeking to prop up his sagging approval ratings, has gone too far. Others say the prime minister is not doing enough.

Many in the LDP do not know what Kishida’s strategy is.

Kishida on Jan. 15 told former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that he would not include the dissolution of all factions in the outline of the political reform task force, according to sources close to Suga.

Three days later, however, Kishida announced the dissolution of the Kishida faction.

Suga, who does not belong to any faction, had insisted on abolishing all factions at the first meeting of the task force.

According to the sources, after hearing Kishida’s Jan. 18 announcement, Suga gave a wry smile to those around him, and said, “What is he up to?”

‘ENORMOUS DAMAGE’

Inside the Nikai faction, which also announced on Jan. 18 that it would disband, there has been a growing resentment toward the prime minister.

A former Cabinet member of that faction said Kishida “has caused enormous damage within the party.”

Citing public opinion polls taken after Kishida’s Jan. 18 announcement, the former Cabinet member said, “The surveys showed that even if he hurriedly dissolved his own faction, his approval rating did not rise, which is the most important thing.”

The former Cabinet member added: “I don’t know how long this administration will last. This could trigger the ‘oust Kishida’ movement.”

A senior member of the Motegi faction accused Kishida of acting solely to save his own skin.

“I’m sure voters know that the dissolution of the (Kishida) faction is a self-serving act on the part of the prime minister,” the faction member said. “Voters also think that the order of what needed to be done was reversed. (Kishida) dissolved his own faction without demanding a full explanation from Diet members who received money from the slush funds.”

Kishida also did not inform LDP Vice President Taro Aso, a former prime minister who leads the second most powerful faction in the LDP, that he would dissolve the Kishida faction.

After the decision was announced, Aso, considered a “guardian” of Kishida, called the prime minister later on Jan. 18 to inform him that he would not dissolve the Aso faction.

Kishida later indicated to those around him that he would not call for the total abolition of factions.

“Rather than the party deciding to dissolve factions, we should set rules and let each faction decide,” he was quoted as saying.

That apparently put Aso in a good mood when he met with Kishida for dinner on the evening of Jan. 21.

According to sources, Aso told Kishida at the dinner, “You should have at least told me in advance” about the dissolution of the Kishida faction.

“NO WAY TO ACHIEVE REAL REFORM”

The Kishida, Nikai and Abe factions in the LDP have come under criminal investigation over apparent unreported political funds gained through fund-raising events.

These factions have said they would dissolve, appeasing LDP members who want the faction system to end in the party.

But many others within the party, including political heavyweights like Aso, say they want the faction system to continue.

Both sides criticized Kishida after the task force meeting on Jan. 22.

Hideo Onishi, a Lower House member who belongs to the Abe faction, told reporters: “(Kishida) dissolved only his own faction and he doesn’t care what happens afterward. That is no way to achieve real reform.”

Takashi Yamashita, a former justice minister who belongs to the Motegi faction, took issue with the way Kishida made the announcement to dissolve his faction.

Kishida did not hold a formal news conference to announce the decision. Instead, he told reporters about his plan in an informal setting.

Yamashita said he directly told Kishida, “This is not something you can talk about” in that way.

He also said people in attendance thought it was strange that someone who had left a faction decided to dissolve the same faction. Kishida left the faction on Dec. 7 after the funding scandal came to light.

The political reform outline released by the LDP task force on Jan. 22 is full of expressions that appear to take into consideration both sides of the faction issue.

It proposes the LDP “dissolve ‘factions (habatsu)’ and move toward true ‘policy groups (seisaku shudan).’”

“A key is for the policy groups to completely break away from ‘money’ and ‘personnel,’” the outline said.

Critics said the plan would allow for the de facto existence of factions.

In fact, habatsu is a vernacular term for an LDP “seisaku shudan.” The Abe faction’s formal name as a seisaku shudan is Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyukai, while the Kishida faction’s formal name is Kouchi-kai.

However, if both money and personnel decisions are separated from the groups, the traditional faction’s foundation for existence would be severely shaken.

Shigeru Ishiba, a former LDP secretary-general who does not belong to any faction, pressed Kishida at the Jan. 22 meeting about the dissolution of the Kishida faction.

“In the first place, was it your idea that all factions should be eliminated? If we don’t know that, the discussion will not proceed,” Ishiba said.

At the end of the meeting, Kishida reiterated that the dissolution of the Kishida faction was “a clean break.”

After the meeting, Ishiba said to reporters: “Is it that all factions are bad? Or not? I’m still not sure.”

(This article was written by Taro Kotegawa and Yoshitaka Isobe.)