Japan Press Weekly

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2012 September 26 - October 2 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Political parties except JCP making savings from taxpayers’ money

Ignoring the still-suffering victims of the March 11 disaster of last year, other political parties than the Japanese Communist Party have been diligently saving up money from the government subsidies for parties.

This came to light in an internal affairs ministry report released on September 28.

According to the report, 9 political parties received a total of about 32 billion yen from the state in 2011. In defiance of spreading public opinion requesting that the subsidies be allocated for restoration work after the 3.11 disaster, these parties have unashamedly accepted the money.

The sum of the 9 parties’ expenditures in 2011 was around 21.2 billion yen, down 30% from the previous year. As no national election took place during the year, they held down expenses and carried forward the balance to the next year.

The Political Party Public Subsidy Act requires parties to return unused funds to the national treasury. However, these parties have stored up the money, making use of a loophole in the law that allows them to carry forward the balance under the category of “funds”.

The amount of “funds” of these 9 parties ran up to 17.2 billion yen as of the end of 2011. It is an increase of 2.7 times over 2010.

The JCP is the only party that has rejected the subsidies among all Japan’s political parties.

The party has been consistently demanding the abolition of the subsidy system enabling political parties to divide among themselves the taxpayers’ money, arguing that it tramples on the freedom of thought and creed guaranteed by the Constitution.