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Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is in crisis over a political slush fund scandal, which erupted in December 2023. The scandal has plunged public trust in Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration and the LDP to unprecedented lows and upended the LDP’s system of political factions. Kishida looks unlikely to survive beyond the end of his term as LDP leader in September 2024.
The scandal is about underreported income from political fundraising party tickets sold by LDP factions. Prosecutors estimate that at least 970…