Yamaguchi: Slipping in polls, LDP must regain public trust

January 19 , 2021

Natsuo Yamaguchi, chief representative of Komeito, addressed a joint session of party legislators of the two chambers of the Diet to kick off the new year, outlining Komeito’s policy objectives in 2021. He said the battle against the coronavirus as being the most urgent and imperative, calling on the government led by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on a speedy rollout of the vaccine and allocation of public funding to reenergize an anemic economy.

Yamaguchi also urged his party’s partner in the coalition government, the Liberal Democratic Party, to police its own ranks with regards to political corruption. He cited the recent scandal over Takamori Yoshikawa, former minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, who was recently charged for accepting bribes from an egg production firm and has since left his House of Representatives seat. Yamaguchi said the Suga administration should accept public criticism as an incentive to regain public confidence, which polls say are continuing to decline.

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