Government - Party donation scandal in Japan: Four ministers resign
Four ministers have resigned in a donation scandal in Japan's ruling party. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will reshuffle the cabinet, reported the Japanese news agency Kyodo. Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, Economics Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, Agriculture Minister Ichiro Miyashita and Interior Minister Junji Suzuki had previously resigned.
Prime Minister Kishida had come under increasing pressure due to the scandal. According to reports in the Japanese media, the public prosecutor's office is investigating several members of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on the accusation that they did not correctly declare income from fundraising events. The money is said to have flowed into black coffers.
At the center of this is the largest conservative power group within the LDP, which was once led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead during an election campaign speech in 2022. Cabinet Secretary Matsuno and the three other ministers affected by the reshuffle are also members of this group. Five deputy ministers and a parliamentary deputy minister have also vacated their posts, Kyodo reported.
Kishida had only reshuffled his cabinet in September. The head of government of the world's third-largest economy had hoped that this would improve his government's significantly lower approval ratings. There was speculation in political circles in Tokyo that new elections to the national parliament might be held soon.
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Source: www.stern.de
