Japan PM Ishiba admits handing out gift vouchers to lawmakers

[TOKYO] Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba confirmed that he distributed gift vouchers to 15 lawmakers, raising questions about whether he skirted political funding laws and casting another cloud over his already weak position as support for his minority government sags.

“From how I understand it, this is not something that infringes on the law,” Ishiba said when addressing reporters late on Thursday on a matter first raised in a report by the Asahi newspaper.

The premier maintained that the vouchers, with a value of 100,000 yen (S$903), didn’t run afoul of funding or election laws because they weren’t intended as donations for political activity, and the lawmakers don’t live in Ishiba’s district. Vouchers can be exchanged for goods at department stores.

Ishiba apologised for causing concern and said he won’t stand down from his post.

The voucher fracas comes as Ishiba faces rising pressure from within his own party as lawmakers prepare for a national election this summer.

Shoji Nishida, an upper house member in the Liberal Democratic Party, urged his peers in a closed-door meeting earlier this week to choose a new leader, Kyodo News reported. Public support for Ishiba has slipped over the last month due in part to rising costs of living.

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Ishiba’s position has been tenuous from the start after the LDP performed poorly in an election last October not long after he took up his post as premier.

“I paid for these vouchers out of pocket, with my own pocket money, as a token of appreciation for the lawmakers’ families,” Ishiba said, admitting that the vouchers were distributed to the offices of newly-elected lawmakers ahead of a dinner earlier this month.

Ishiba has struggled to pass the national budget for next year. He successfully struck a deal with an opposition party to secure enough votes to pass the budget in the lower house, but has since flip-flopped on his position on high-cost medical care, requiring the budget to be revised in the upper house. BLOOMBERG