Kishida To Hold Presser Tomorrow As Political Funding Scandal Escalates

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to replace four ministers on Thursday and demote 11 other officials in a bid to contain an escalating political funding scandal, even as parliament voted down a motion of no confidence in Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno tabled by the main opposition party.

• Asahi reported that the announcement will be made at a press conference marking the end of the current parliamentary session, also noting that the plan is to simply replace the four ministers without conducting a full-scale Cabinet reshuffle. The press conference has been scheduled for 09:15GMT/18:15JST.
• While the scandal had been initially traced back to the Abe faction, Kyodo and NHK reported that similar accusations have now been made against the Kishida faction. Both are currently without permanent leaders, with Kishida giving up faction leadership a few days ago to focus on handling the political funding scandal.
• Backdoor manoeuvring of Shinzo Abe was seen as instrumental in helping Kishida beat his more popular and reform-oriented rival Taro Kono in the 2021 party leadership contest. The growing instability of the Abe and Kishida factions is undermining the Prime Minister's position within the ruling party.