JAPANESE Prime Minister Fumio Kishida‘s approval rate dropped to 17.1% in December. It marked the first time his Cabinet received a rating below 20% since the ruling Liberal Democratic Party returned to power in December 2012.
The purge of more than a dozen Cabinet ministers, vice ministers, and party executives started on Thursday as Kishida tries to clean up the Liberal Party Democratic house.
The revamp in his Cabinet took place amid an ongoing criminal investigation over a fundraising scandal involving the ruling party’s most powerful faction.
Among those who were forced to resign on Thursday was Kishida’s close ally – government spokesman and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno who holds one of the most powerful posts in government.
Internal Affairs Minister Junji Suzuki, Agriculture Minister Ichiro Miyashita, as well as Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura also quit their posts, according to local media.
The lawmakers under Kishida’s group who were linked to the fundraising scandal allegedly received more than 500 million yen in undeclared political funds that have ended up in unmonitored slush funds over a five-year period through 2022.
Five more deputy ministers would be removed in the next few days.
