DPJ and LDP used huge amount of tax money for media blitz

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

DPJ and LDP used huge amount of tax money for media blitz

During the last general election, the Democratic Party of Japan used an enormous amount of tax money for TV commercials and newspaper ads, amounting to 5.73 billion yen, more than double the amount it had used in the previous year.

Calling on voters to support a change in government, the DPJ also used about 2.68 billion yen for its election-related expenses, 30 times more than the amount of the previous year.

On September 29, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry released a report on how each political party used the subsidy given to it from public funds (250 yen per capita) in FY2009.

According to the report, the Liberal Democratic Party also spent 6.18 billion yen on its own media blitz, 2.3 times more than it had used in FY2008. At the same time, the party used 1.85 billion yen, 38 times more in election-related expenses than it had used the year before.

Eight political parties (DPJ, LDP, Komei, Your Party, Social Democratic Party, People's New Party, New Party Nippon, and Japan Renaissance Party or the recently renamed New Renaissance Party) received state subsidies of 31.94 billion yen in total. Their total expenditures of the government grant amounted to 38.79 billion yen, which was 49.9 percent more than the amount they had used in FY2008 because the general election took place in FY2009.

They even dug into the reserves they had amassed from leftover subsidies. They used 4.4 billion yen out of the 11.27 billion yen in their total fund balances.

The Japanese Communist Party has consistently refused to accept the state subsidy since the system was introduced in 1995. It also does not receive any political donations from corporations or political interest groups. The JCP always keeps itself clean by relying on obtaining its funds from membership dues, individual contributions, and other in-house financial activities such as Akahata subscription fees.

- Akahata, September 30, 2010