LDP may put brake on hereditary candidacy from next general election

Friday 22nd May, 08:28 AM JST

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9 Comments

sakurasuki at 08:22 AM JST - 22nd May

Should the LDP apply a limit, Shinjiro Koizumi, the second son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who plans to inherit his father’s constituency in Kanagawa Prefecture, may not be able to run as an LDP candidate.

Sorry son, bad timing.
Gaijinocchio at 08:48 AM JST - 22nd May

This may put a cap on foolish politicians who say foolish things. This may place people for candidacy in terms of merits and education rather than parentage and connections. This may stamp-out corruption and bribes. This may just be spittle in the wind, another ploy to gain votes, and never be enforced at all.
stirfry at 01:58 PM JST - 22nd May

'may' and 'mulling'...2 words the LDP likes to use as a smokescreen for doing nothing
Latenights at 04:47 PM JST - 22nd May

This rule is insane on so many levels... First, it is blatant discrimination to refuse to back a candidate based on his or her heritage: imagine the outcry if the reverse were to be proposed - that a candidate could only run if a parent or grandparent had previously held the post! Second, these second and third generation politicians only get their jobs because people vote for them, instead of introducing a discriminatory policy why not try to educate people to vote on criteria other than lineage? Third, since it's obvious that these people really aren't into democracy, why not simply give up the charade and let them have their aristocracy back? Then they could just go on with their lives, safe in the knowledge that positions of power will pass to the next in line without having to go through the motions of getting "elected".
thundercat at 07:26 PM JST - 22nd May

these second and third generation politicians only get their jobs because people vote for them

That's not necessarily true at all. Quite often papa politician will run for reelection, win, then retire from politics and give his position to junior. It could be years before 'regular folk' get a chance to actually vote for the 'candidate'. At this point junior has controlled the office and their dad's political funds management groups for years giving them a huge advantage over any one else who wishes to run for the position.
jeancolmar at 08:35 PM JST - 22nd May

Regards of what the LDP does in the end, one thing is certain: The Democratic Party of Japan has succeeded in setting the LDP's pants on fire. Good going.
elbudamexicano at 09:27 PM JST - 22nd May

This is just election time performance by the J politicians.
smithinjapan at 10:46 PM JST - 22nd May

They'll put it in place to win votes, and when the kids get elected into position (since it'll be THEIR kids that can't get in according to the 'some sort of limit') they'll change the laws back. There's no way in hell this country is ready for a non-nepotistic style of government.
Simon_Foston at 09:43 AM JST - 23rd May

I've been reading that they plan to get around it by allowing these kids to stand as independents, then the local LDP cronies will throw all their money behind them and they'll be allowed to join the LDP once they've got their Diet seats. Nepotism as usual.