Crisis in the Government of Japan after the resignation of four ministers over a public fundraising scandal

As happened at the end of last year, Japanese politics will end 2023 equally bled by new corruption scandals that threaten to topple Prime Minister Fumio Kishida..

The Japanese leader has carried out his third major purge within his cabinet in 16 months at the head of the third world economy. If in 2022 several ministers fell for fraud in the electoral law and connections with a controversial Christian sect, this time everything revolves around a case opened by justice related to the collection of public funds within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (PLD).

Kishida forced four of his most important ministers to resign this Thursday, just one day after his government easily overcame a motion of no confidence presented by the opposition in a Parliament in which the PLD has a large majority.

Yasutoshi Nishimura (Minister of Economy and Industry), Junji Suzuki (Interior) and Ichiro Miyashita (Agriculture) have presented their resignation to the leader. But the most significant fall has been that of one of Kishida's most trusted men, his chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuo.. The purge has also taken away five vice ministers and senior officials.

The mass forced resignation hits above all the most powerful faction within the LDP, traditionally linked to the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who surrounded himself with a group of faithful during his two long periods at the head of the Executive..

Japanese prosecutors are investigating undeclared financing, for approximately 500 million yen (the exchange rate is three million euros), from which many of the ruling party politicians benefited over a period of more than five years.

“In light of the various accusations made about these funds, which have shaken public confidence in politics, I have submitted my resignation,” Matsuno announced this Thursday at a press conference.. In addition to his cabinet secretary, another very hard blow for Kishida has been that the scandal also affected one of his closest advisors, Michiko Ueno.

The local press has reported that investigators are going to question dozens of legislators this weekend and search their offices in search of evidence related to the concealment of public funds to support the profiles and candidacies of politicians from the Abe faction, a group which has been a strong counterweight to Kishida's dominance of the LDP these last two years.

After the latest scandal, all indicators point to the prime minister's popularity plummeting: it has fallen to 23%. Seven months ago, when Kishida hosted the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, his approval ratings were above 50%.. In Tokyo there is now a lot of noise about whether the 66-year-old leader will hold out his term until 2025 or call early elections.

Last year, Kishida's mandate was already put into doubt after he launched a first reorganization of his cabinet – four other ministers resigned – after the assassination in July of former leader Abe, the relations of the ruling party came to light. with the controversial Unification Church. Abe's assassin, Tetsuya Yamagami, claimed that he attacked the conservative politician with a homemade weapon because of his ties to this powerful ultra-conservative organization with strong ties to the LDP.

Abe maintained a close relationship with the church, as did, an investigation after the former prime minister's death showed, 179 of the LDP's 379 parliamentarians.. There was a lot of controversy in Japan over the politicians' connections with an organization known for pressuring its parishioners to make large donations that many had to go into debt to pay, such as the case of the mother of Abe's assassin.