Photo/Illutration The Upper House plenary session on June 19 approves revisions to the Political Fund Control Law. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Nearly all opposition candidates in the Oct. 27 Lower House election say the revised Political Fund Control Law is insufficient, while only half of ruling party candidates feel that way, a survey showed.

The law was revised in June amid public outrage over reports that factions in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party did not properly report the distribution of huge amounts of money accumulated from fund-raising parties to its members.

The joint survey by The Asahi Shimbun and Masaki Taniguchi, a political science professor at the University of Tokyo, asked candidates in the election for their views on the revised law.

They were given three response options: “insufficient,” “appropriate” and “too strict.”

Overall, 85 percent of the candidates said the revised law was insufficient, while only 14 percent said it was appropriate.

Every candidate in five opposition parties—Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), the Japanese Communist Party, the Democratic Party for the People, Reiwa Shinsengumi and the Social Democratic Party—said the revised law was insufficient.

Ninety-nine percent of candidates for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said the changes did not go far enough.

But opinion was split among LDP candidates, with 50 percent saying the revised law was insufficient and 49 percent saying it was appropriate.

Opinion was also divided within junior coalition partner Komeito, with 54 percent saying it was insufficient and 46 percent saying it was appropriate.

One revision to the law revolved around “policy activity fees,” which are distributed by parties to individual lawmakers, including those in executive positions. A new provision called for the release of receipts over how those fees were used 10 years after the fact.

The joint survey asked candidates to choose from three response options concerning the policy activity fees.

Seventy-three percent of all candidates said the fees should be abolished, while 23 percent said the period before release of the receipts should be shortened from 10 years.

Only 4 percent picked the third option of continuing with the revised law to allow the distribution of such fees and the release of the receipts after 10 years.

By party, only 36 percent of LDP candidates said policy activity fees should be abolished, while 48 percent favored shortening the period before release of receipts. Only 15 percent of LDP candidates said the revised law should be maintained as written.

Opinion was vastly different within the other parties. Ninety-four percent of Komeito candidates called for abolishing the fees, while the figure exceeded 90 percent among candidates for the CDP, Nippon Ishin, the JCP, the DPP and Reiwa.

Opinion was also split over fund-raising parties, which were at the root of the money scandal that rocked the administration of then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The revised Political Fund Control Law did not outlaw such parties, but it did lower the monetary threshold for releasing the names of those purchasing tickets to the fund-raisers.

Candidates were asked if they planned to hold such parties if elected.

A majority of candidates in the LDP, Komeito, the DPP and Sanseito said they would hold fund-raising parties if the need arose.

But a majority of candidates in the CDP, Nippon Ishin, the JCP, Reiwa and the SDP said they would not hold such parties in the future.

Among all candidates, 50 percent said they would not hold such parties, while 40 percent said parties would be held if the need arose. Ten percent said they would not hold fund-raising parties in the term they are elected to.

Questionnaires were mailed to all 1,344 candidates. The results are based on responses received from 1,200 individuals by the afternoon of Oct. 15, when campaigning officially began.

(This article was written by Tsuneo Sasai and Daiki Koga.)

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