Japan Press Weekly

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2011 March 30 - April 5 [POLITICS]

Will political parties accept government subsidies despite hardships faced by disaster victims?

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) on April 1 announced the amount of government subsidies to be given to each of the nine political parties in the Diet (except the Japanese Communist Party which refuses to accept the subsidy) in this fiscal year.

Under the present situation in which the Diet has begun discussions on procuring the financial resources needed to relieve the victims and reconstruct the areas affected by the Great East Japan Disaster, these political parties’ acceptance of the subsidies will be called into question.

The Democratic Party of Japan will receive 16.8 billion yen in government subsidies, the highest amount for the second year in a row. The government subsidy to the Liberal Democratic Party will be 10.1 billion yen, the Komei 2.3 billion yen, the Social Democratic 762.3 million yen, and the Your 1.1 billion yen.

Nine political parties early this year expressed that they will accept subsidies from the government. Do they intend to still receive the grant in the aftermath of the disaster?

The MIC said that if a political party submits a claim to the ministry by April 11, that party will receive the first portion of this year’s four installments of subsidies to political parties.

The JCP continuously refuses to receive the government subsidy and calls for the abolition of the government subsidy system on the grounds that it violates people’s freedom of thought and creed. At the moment, the JCP stresses the need to use the government subsidies to political parties to help fund the restoration of the disaster-stricken areas.