Photo/Illutration Toshimitsu Motegi, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, during a Lower House plenary session on Jan. 30 (Takeshi Iwashita)

The Motegi faction, one of the two remaining factions of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, will reorganize itself as a “policy group” with no role in money and personnel affairs, a representative said.

“We shared the perception that we will disband as a faction, make a clean break with ‘money and personnel’ and conduct studies as a new policy group,” Yoshitaka Shindo, the faction’s secretary-general, told reporters after a meeting of faction members on Jan. 30.

But Shindo said members have yet to discuss whether the faction, known officially as Heisei Kenkyukai, will cancel its registration as a political organization as defined under the Political Fund Control Law.

At a news conference on Jan. 29, LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi had indicated his intention to disband his “so-called faction” and turn it into a policy group.

Four of the LDP’s six factions have decided to disband following a scandal in which many lawmakers received unreported revenues gained through fund-raising parties from their factions.

Several senior members of the Motegi faction, including Kazuhiko Aoki, vice chair of the LDP’s Upper House caucus, have announced they will leave the group.

Yoshihisa Furukawa, a former justice minister, said he was leaving, too, after the meeting of Motegi faction members on Jan. 30.

“I have argued that we should once clear the party (of intraparty groups) to discuss how politics should be conducted,” Furukawa told reporters. “I will not be able to stay on in the policy group.”

Motegi had earlier told an associate, “I will add the period to end Heisei Kenkyukai.”

But some faction members said Motegi is unable to immediately dissolve his faction out of consideration for LDP Vice President Taro Aso, who has said he will maintain his own faction, the second largest in the party.

Motegi, a potential contender to succeed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, is counting on Aso’s support in the next LDP leadership election in autumn, they said.

Motegi is “caught between a rock and a hard place,” a mid-ranking Upper House member who belongs to the Motegi faction said.

“With Aso in mind, he cannot immediately disband his faction,” the lawmaker said. “At the same time, he cannot say he will maintain his faction because members will continue to leave if things remain as they are.”

The LDP’s intraparty factions have traditionally provided funds to member lawmakers and made recommendations on personnel appointments to the Cabinet and the party leadership.

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