Kishida Prepares To Purge Abe Faction Off'ls Amid Political Funding Scandal

Local media outlets reported over the weekend that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was set to replace as many as 15 ministers, parliamentary officials and party executives involved in a slush-fund scandal associated with the so-called Abe faction (also known as Seiwa Policy Research Group, the largest faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party). This comes amid allegations that the officials have been receiving kickbacks from fundraising events that were kept off the books.

• Asahi reported that Kishida intends to replace four ministers, including heavyweights Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno and Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, as well as Internal Affairs Minister Yasushi Kaneko and Agriculture Minister Genjiro Kaneko.
• The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) used the opportunity to table a motion of no confidence in Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno, accusing him of a failure to address the allegations. The motion is expected to fail but the Prime Minister has already announced his intention to sack Matsuno.
• The Abe faction has been in disarray following the assassination of its namesake and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022. The LDP's largest faction has struggled to pick Abe's successor since, defaulting to caretaker collective leadership. This has hindered coordination with other factions, undermining the LDP's stability.
• The imminent political shakeup has invited speculation about the implications for the BoJ's rate path, with Bloomberg citing a former BoJ Board member seeing "a decline in the power of the Abe faction giving the BoJ more leeway and making it easier to go ahead with policy adjustments such as ending the negative interest rate".
• There is speculation that the reshuffle could take place after the current parliamentary session ends on Wednesday. Mainichi reported that the Prime Minister will hold a press conference at the end of the parliamentary session to outline the future direction for his party.