Japan Press Weekly

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2013 January 9 - 15 [POLITICS]

Political subsidies amount to Y567.7 billion for 18 years

Akahata reported on January 9 that the total amount of public subsidies to political parties reached about 567.7 billion yen since the Political Party Subsidies Law was introduced in 1995. Even some of the major newspapers have argued that if politicians stress the need to reduce annual national expenditures, they should cut the grants to political parties first.

The Liberal Democratic Party received 256.6 billion yen, which accounts for 45% of the subsidies. The Democratic Party of Japan, following the LDP, received 171.2 billion yen, 30%.

The number of parties accepting the taxpayers’ money for the past 18 years is 28. Of them, 21 parties have been already dissolved after repeatedly changing their factions while completely ignoring policies or political ideals.

The amount supplied to each party is computed according to the number of its elected representatives as of January 1 every year. At the end of last year, four small parties, including the Sunrise Party that had only a short life span, yet brazenly received the money while submitting to the government notifications of their dissolution.

The Japanese Communist Party has steadfastly refused to accept the subsidies. The party argues that the grants system infringes upon the freedom of thought and belief guaranteed by the Japanese Constitution because it provides the public money for political parties regardless of which party people actually support.

The mass media also criticize the system. The Mainichi on January 3 said, “Politicians understand that they have only to gather several legislators to form a political party, don’t they?” The Asahi Shimbun in its editorial on December 15 stated, “Prohibiting political donations by corporations and other organizations was a precondition for the introduction of the system. It is double-dipping for parties to continue obtaining the grants without fulfilling their promise.”