At least six senior members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are unlikely to receive official party endorsements for the upcoming Prime Minister, Declares Candidacy for CDPJ Leadership Race”>House of Representatives election
. This decision comes after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced that he would not support lawmakers involved in a political funding scandal. The six individuals, including former ministers and committee chairpersons, were found to have violated the Political Funds Control Law by failing to report certain income in their political fund reports.In addition to these six members, other lawmakers implicated in scandals will also not be endorsed by the LDP if they do not receive support from their home constituencies. Ishiba made this decision after discussions with LDP Secretary General Hiroshi Moriyama.
The LDP has eight types of penalties for its members, and endorsements will not be given to those who have received at least the fourth-strictest punishment. Shimomura, Nishimura, and Takagi fall into this category. Shimomura and Nishimura had their party membership suspended for a year, while Takagi’s membership was suspended for six months.
Even those who were suspended from their position within the party will not be endorsed if their one-year suspension is still in force and they have not appeared before the Political Ethics Hearing Committee. Hagiuda, Hirasawa, and Mitsubayashi fall into this category.
Other members may also be left without endorsements if their home constituency did not apply to the party or if surveys indicate that they are not competitive candidates.
Prime Minister Ishiba acknowledged that his decision would result in a significant number of unendorsed candidates but emphasized his commitment to gaining the trust of the people as someone with authority over candidate endorsements.
As for other members implicated in scandals but still eligible for endorsement, they may only be endorsed as candidates in single-seat constituencies and will not be allowed to run simultaneously in proportional representation sections. This means that up to 37 incumbent lawmakers seeking re-election may lose out on proportional representation seats if they fail to win their single-seat constituency races.
In light of these developments, Ishiba and other LDP leaders have decided against running in both single-seat constituencies and under proportional representation systems themselves.