JCP proposes 6 bills

The Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers Group on January 23 submitted to the House of Councilors six bills to prohibit corporate donations to parties, abolish subsidies to parties and close the revolving doors for retired bureaucrats, provide local suffrage to foreigners, and revitalize regional finance.

The bill to ban corporate donations also bars corporations, business organizations, and trade unions from purchasing tickets to political fund-raising gatherings.

The JCP has been calling for government subsidies to political parties to be abolished on the grounds that it enables political parties to share tax money with each other and that it violates the constitutional right to choose a political party to support.

The bill on re-employment of bureaucrats forbids retired senior government officials from obtaining executive posts in profit corporations, organizations, independent administrative agencies, and government affiliated corporations.

JCP Dietmembers will make efforts for permanent resident-status foreigners to have both the right to vote and to be elected for local public offices.

A set of bills on regional finance aims at revitalizing regional finance essential for the sound development of small- and- medium-sized companies and local economies. (end)