(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in Japan are in favour of a government proposal that would promote transparency in political funding procedures, according to a poll by Yomiuri. 64 per cent of respondents agree with a proposed law that would require lawmakers and organizations to disclose all of their expenditures related to political funding in detail, while 32 per cent are against it.

In September, Yasuo Fukuda—a 71-year-old moderate who favours closer ties with Asia—was elected as the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and officially sworn in as Japan’s prime minister, substituting Shinzo Abe. Fukuda served as chief cabinet secretary during the premierships of Yoshiro Mori and Junichiro Koizumi. He is also the son of former Japanese head of government Takeo Fukuda.

An election to renew half of the House of Councillors seats took place in July. Final results gave the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) 60 of the 121 seats at stake, with the governing LDP winning 37 mandates. The opposition—with 137 seats—now holds a majority in the upper house of Japan’s Diet for the first time since the LDP was founded in 1955.

The LDP, the New Komeito Clean Government Party (Kt) and the DPJ have agreed to enact the Political Funds Control Law, which will require Diet members and political candidates to disclose receipts for all expenditures related to funding of 1 yen or more. A new independent organization will monitor political funding and analyze the expenditure reports.

The bill comes at a time when corruption and fraud have weakened the long-governing LDP. On Nov. 17, the government announced it will create a special committee to discuss ways to reform the Defence Ministry, where several bribery scandals involving defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, former vice-minister Takemasa Moriya and two former defence chiefs have taken place.

Chief cabinet secretary Nobutaka Machimura talked about the decision, saying, "Of course, this is an issue that would normally be discussed within the Defence Ministry but we can’t really leave it up to them. (It cannot) take up its own problems by itself right now."

Polling Data

The government and the opposition have agreed to oblige Diet members and fund-management organizations for prospective national election candidates to disclose receipts for all expenditures of 1 yen or more. Some people believe the standard should be eased because it would be too complicated and time-consuming to include every receipt. Do you agree or disagree with this proposal?

Source: Yomiuri
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,810 Japanese voters, conducted on Nov. 10 and Nov. 11, 2007. No margin of error was provided.

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