EGN NEWS DESK
Shigeru Ishiba, former secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party who has declared his bid for party presidency, on Sunday adjusted his comment made yesterday in regards to the destiny of LDP lawmakers linked to the party’s slush funds scandal.
“The new management staff will determine” whether or not the LDP ought to endorse such lawmakers because the party’s official candidates in upcoming elections, Ishiba informed reporters in Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture.
“Someone who has but to develop into party chief mustn’t remark with prejudice” on the matter, Ishiba added.
On Saturday, when he introduced his candidacy within the party’s Sept. 27 presidential election, Ishiba mentioned that the LDP Election Strategy Committee ought to totally deliberate on whether or not lawmakers linked to the scandal should be the party’s official candidates.
This assertion had drawn a backlash from former members of the LDP faction beforehand led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which was on the heart of the slush funds scandal involving fundraising events.
Among others whose names are being floated as potential runners within the election to select a successor to present LDP chief and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, former inside affairs minister Seiko Noda has additionally touched on the potential of the party not formally endorsing scandal-hit lawmakers.
