Inside Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party Crisis | Success and Scandals - video Dailymotion

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Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has dominated politics since 1955, but recent years have been marked by both significant successes and major scandals. From a massive political funding scandal implicating top leaders to historic election losses and shifting public trust, the LDP faces an existential crisis. WATCH.    #JapanPolitics #LDPScandal #LiberalDemocraticParty #JapaneseElections #PoliticalScandals #Japan2025 #ShigeruIshiba #FumioKishida #World   🔊 LIKE ➡ SHARE ➡ SUBSCRIBE  For More Updates:  English: https://newsable.asianetnews.com/  Hindi: https://hindi.asianetnews.com/  Malayalam: https://www.asianetnews.com/  Kannada: https://kannada.asianetnews.com/  Tamil: https://tamil.asianetnews.com/  Telugu: https://telugu.asianetnews.com/  Bengali: https://bangla.asianetnews.com/  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsianetNewsa...  Follow us on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AsianetNewsEN  Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ann.newsable/  ➡ If you like our video, give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel to get the daily dosage of news, entertainment, sports and more.

Transcript

00:00Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, LDP, is a huge big-tent electoral machine that has governed

00:10the nation for all but four years since it began 70 years ago. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba decided

00:17to resign as the leader of the ruling party Sunday after recent election losses that deprived the

00:24Conservative Party of a legislative majority for the first time since 2009. Let's look at the history

00:31of the LDP, what it believes in, and the reasons for its decades of success.

00:44The LDP began in 1955 as a merger between two Conservative parties and governed constantly

00:51until 1993, overseeing a huge expansion of the economy and living standards. During the Cold War,

00:59the United States, which still has 54,000 troops in Japan, channeled millions of dollars to the party

01:06as a bulwark against communism. During this time, the smaller Japan Socialist Party served largely

01:12as a check on the government rather than aiming to win power itself. In the process, the LDP

01:19attracted all kinds of special interests, including farming and business lobbies, as well as religious

01:25groups, resulting in multiple cases of corruption. Beneath the surface lurks fierce rivalry among

01:39factions, resulting in regular changes of leader, 27 since 1955, which act as a substitute for changes

01:47in government. All its leaders have been men, and only around 13% of its current MPs are women. In 2021,

01:57women were invited to attend key party meetings, but they weren't allowed to speak. The party has

02:03generally leaned towards big government spending, market-friendly economic policies, socially conservative

02:10values, and a robust alliance with the United States. But it is a large tent, grouping big government

02:17advocates, political doves focused on economic growth and nationalists pushing traditional family values.

02:24Rather than basing their actions on a certain ideology, the party has acted as voters tell it,

02:30analysts said. LDP factions, despite their deep divisions, have chosen to stick together to stay in power.

02:38In 1993, the LDP was kicked out of power for the first time, after the dramatic bursting of Japan's

02:531980s asset bubble and a corruption scandal. But the fragile coalition government of small groups,

03:00including several LDP defectors, didn't even last a year, and the party was back in power in 1994.

03:08In 2009, the LDP again lost power in a landslide, replaced for a chaotic three years by the center-left

03:16Democratic Party of Japan. The DPJ's policy failures and its clumsy response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster,

03:25allowed the LDP under Shinzo Abe to return to power in late 2012.

03:39The LDP remains associated with the post-war economic miracle, especially among older voters in

03:45rural areas. Japan's electoral system also favors the well-funded and well-organized LDP, with a national

03:53network of supporters and special interests. The system has prevented smaller parties from staying

03:59in government for an extended period of time.

04:10The LDP has been back in power since 2012, in coalition with Komeito, a moderate party backed by

04:18Buddhist group Soka Gakkai. Ishiba won the LDP leadership around a year ago after voter discontent

04:26over inflation, and a new scandal sank his predecessor, Fumio Kishida. Kishida, in power for three years,

04:33replaced Yoshihide Suga, who in turn succeeded Shinzo Abe, known for his nationalist views and

04:40Abenomics. After Abe's assassination in 2022, the LDP has faced intense public outrage on revelations that its

04:49members kept a slush fund and underreported income from fundraisers. The crisis is seen as a major factor

04:56for the LDP's recent election defeats. Despite the LDP's falling popularity, the opposition bloc

05:03has remained divided and has failed to serve as an effective political alternative.

Inside Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party Crisis | Success and Scandals

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