Nippon Ishin urges LDP to ban corporate donations

Nippon Ishin also called for the realisation of its "second capital" vision and social security reform.

The requests were made at a meeting between new LDP President Sanae Takaichi and Nippon Ishin co-leader Fumitake Fujita, one day after the two parties agreed to hold policy talks with a view to forming a coalition.

The meeting was also attended by the two parties' secretaries-general and policy chiefs.

"We confirmed that we share the basic points of key policies for managing the government, such as diplomacy, national security and energy," LDP policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi told reporters after the meeting.

Meanwhile, Fujita said that his party has "no plans to drop" its proposal for a corporate donation ban. He indicated that the two parties aim to conclude by Monday, before an extraordinary Diet session begins on Tuesday.

The LDP and Nippon Ishin will hold another meeting on Friday.

Nippon Ishin's policy requests made to the LDP also include exempting food products from the consumption tax for two years and reducing the number of Diet members by 10 pct.

Before Thursday's meeting, Nippon Ishin held a general meeting of its lawmakers and decided to entrust the party's leadership team with the policy talks with the LDP. "We'll make a comprehensive decision," Nippon Ishin leader Hirofumi Yoshimura, also governor of Osaka Prefecture, told reporters.

The LDP also decided at an extraordinary board meeting held after the Takaichi-Fujita meeting to leave the negotiations to Takaichi.

Ahead of the parliamentary vote to elect the next prime minister, Nippon Ishin is now at the centre of political manoeuvring by the ruling and opposition parties.

"We'll make efforts to pull Nippon Ishin to the opposition side," Yoshihiko Noda, head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said during a TV Asahi program on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Noda, Fujita, and Democratic Party for the People chief Yuichiro Tamaki held talks but were unable to conclude their parties' possible cooperation in the election of a new prime minister.

At a meeting of the three parties' secretaries-general on Thursday, Nippon Ishin explained its negotiations with the LDP.

The CDP, Nippon Ishin and the DPFP agreed to hold a meeting again if the LDP and Nippon Ishin fail to reach an agreement.

Also on Thursday, meetings were held between Tamaki and Tetsuo Saito, head of Komeito, which withdrew from the LDP-led ruling bloc last week, and between CDP Secretary-General Jun Azumi and his Komeito counterpart, Makoto Nishida.

"We hope to cooperate with Komeito and have the DPFP join us as well", to counter the possible LDP-Nippon Ishin pair, Azumi told reporters.

Noda and Saito are set to hold talks on Friday to discuss their possible cooperation in the prime minister election.

 [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]