Japan's ruling LDP to ban conventional factions

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Tuesday adopted new internal regulations prohibiting the continuation and formation of traditional intraparty factions, amid efforts to strengthen penalties for lawmakers whose accountants face legal charges, local media reported.

These changes were endorsed by the LDP during a session of its General Council on Tuesday. The updated regulations, devised in light of the slush funds scandal involving revenues from factions' fundraising parties, are slated to come into effect on Sunday, according to Japanese news agency Jiji Press.

The governance code revision defines factions as "organizations that use their funding ability and influence over personnel matters to increase member lawmakers and utilize a larger membership to exert greater influence," reported Jiji.

The amended code explicitly prohibits the continuation and establishment of such "traditional factions," the report noted.

The revised disciplinary regulations enabled the party to take action against lawmakers whose accountants are arrested or charged. Penalties may include suspension from party positions, recommendations to resign from parliamentary and government roles, denial of endorsement for elections, suspension of party membership, or suggestions to exit the party.

Approval ratings for the LDP have sunk to record lows in the wake of its slush fund scandal, and at a parliamentary panel last month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, also leader of the LDP, apologized for the scandals and vowed to advance political reforms and amend the political funds control law to restore public trust.

Disbanding decisions have been announced by several large LDP factions, including Seiwaken, the largest intraparty faction formerly led by the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and the ones led by former LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai and previously led by Kishida.

At the end of last year, in the wake of the unfolding scandal where five major factions were suspected of paying kickbacks to member lawmakers who sold fundraising party tickets above their quota without recording the amount as revenue in its political fund reports, over 10 senior officials or heavyweight lawmakers have stepped down from their positions in Kishida's cabinet or in the LDP.