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2024 November 27 - December 3 TOP3 [POLITICS]

PM Ishiba in policy speech says nothing about LDP’s slush fund scandal

The 216th extraordinary Diet session was convened on November 28. On the following day, Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru delivered his policy speech at the plenary session of both Houses.

Later in the day in the Diet building, asked by reporters for comments on Ishiba’s policy speech, Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Tamura Tomoko said that Ishiba said nothing about key issues concerning political reform: digging out the truth behind the Liberal Democratic Party’s slush fund scandal and banning corporate and organizational donations to political parties.

Tamura noted that met with harsh public criticism in regard to the LDP’s off-the-book money scandal in last month’s general election, the ruling parties lost their majority control in the House of Representatives. Nevertheless, she claimed, PM Ishiba failed to take this scandal seriously.

Tamura pointed out that PM Ishiba in his policy speech indicated the continuation of his predecessors’ useless economic policies intended supposedly to ease hardships in people’s livelihoods. Citing the ongoing cost of living crisis and delays in the reconstruction of infrastructure and people’s livelihoods following the January 1 Noto Peninsula earthquake, she said that Ishiba gave no concrete measures to address these issues.

Criticizing PM Ishiba for talking about the Japan-U.S. alliance and the huge military buildup at the very beginning of his policy speech, Tamura said that this represents his aggressive military-oriented stance which deems the Japan-U.S. alliance to be the top priority. She said that peace cannot be created through military bloc confrontations, adding that it can only be achieved through efforts to promote dialogue and diplomatic exchanges.