08-07-2025
Survey: No LDP candidate wants ban on corporate donations
Voters listen to a candidate for the Upper House election making a campaign speech in Tokyo on July 3. (Takayuki Kakuno)
An overwhelming percentage of opposition candidates in the Upper House election support a 'total ban' on corporate and group donations, but the rate was zero for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, a survey showed.
A possible ban on such donations became a contentious issue in the Diet following a series of financial scandals in the LDP. But debate has been shelved until after the July 20 Upper House election.
Corporate and group donations to individual politicians were banned under 'political reforms of the Heisei Era' about 30 years ago.
However, a loophole allows individual politicians to continue receiving such donations if the money is sent to political party branches represented by these politicians.
According to the survey, 86 percent of candidates of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and 89 percent of those backed by Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) want to close the loophole to completely ban corporate and group donations.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his LDP have insisted that corporations and organizations have the right to 'freedom of political activities.'
The LDP submitted a bill to the recently closed ordinary Diet session to 'strengthen disclosure' of donations on the premise that such payments can continue to exist.
In response, five opposition parties, including the CDP and Nippon Ishin, submitted a bill to ban these donations.
Both bills were put on the agenda for continued deliberation.
The survey was jointly conducted by The Asahi Shimbun and a research group led by Masaki Taniguchi, a professor of Japanese politics at the University of Tokyo, from the end of May.
Of the 522 Upper House election candidates, 487, or 93.3 percent, responded by the evening of July 3, the day when the official election campaign started.
The survey asked respondents to show where they stood on a five-point scale concerning corporate and group political donations.
Picking (A) meant they felt that 'corporations and organizations have the freedom to engage in political activities.'
On the other end of the scale was (B), support for the idea that 'corporate and group donations should be banned entirely.'
According to the results, 94 percent of LDP candidates were in the 'freedom of political activities' camp, including those who said they 'tend to agree' with (A).
No LDP candidate fell into the 'total ban on donations' camp. Six percent were 'undecided.'
The LDP's junior coalition partner, Komeito, and the opposition Democratic Party for the People had proposed measures to 'strengthen regulations' on such donations but allow for them to continue to exist. The parties did not submit their bills to the Diet.
According to the survey, 88 percent of Komeito candidates were in the 'freedom of political activities' camp.
Among DPP candidates, 50 percent supported 'freedom of political activities,' while 40 percent were undecided.
A scandal over unreported political funds among LDP factions hurt the ruling coalition in the Lower House election in October last year and prompted Diet debate on political reform.
The ruling and opposition parties agreed to reach a conclusion by March this year, but they failed to do so by the end of the ordinary Diet session in June.
It was also revealed that Ishiba distributed 100,000-yen ($685) gift certificates to 15 of first-time elected Lower House members of the LDP in March.
The Political Fund Control Law prohibits donations between politicians that are related to political activities.
Ishiba denied any illegality, saying the gifts were like souvenirs from a dinner party and were not related to political activities.
Some have criticized the gift certificates as going beyond the scope of socially accepted norms, regardless of whether they were related to a political activity.
The survey asked the candidates if they thought 'donations between politicians' other than for political activities are acceptable.
It also asked what they believed was an acceptable value level for non-political donations between politicians, excluding wedding gifts and monetary offerings for funerals.
They were asked to choose from among five options: No donations between politicians should be made at all; up to 10,000 yen is acceptable; up to 50,000 yen is acceptable; up to 100,000 yen is acceptable; and donations exceeding 100,000 yen may be possible depending on the situation.
Among LDP candidates, 58 percent said they would allow such donations, while 42 percent said these donations should never be made.
Seventeen percent of LDP candidates said donations would be acceptable 'up to 10,000 yen,' while 19 percent said 'up to 50,000 yen' and 6 percent said 'up to 100,000 yen.'
Also, 17 percent picked 'exceeding 100,000 yen is possible depending on the occasion.'
For DPP candidates, 43 percent said donations between politicians are acceptable.
In contrast, 80 percent of CDP candidates and 91 percent of Komeito candidates said such donations should not be made at all.
(This article was written by Daiki Koga and Yuta Ogi.)
