Overview

• Japanese prosecutors have raided the offices of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) amid a political funding scandal, investigating allegations that party officials failed to declare a combined 600 million yen ($4.18m) in fundraising proceeds.
• The scandal has sent Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s approval ratings to some of the lowest levels in the country’s post-war history, with 79% of respondents in a recent poll disapproving of the government.
• Kishida has already reshuffled his cabinet twice in an effort to stem the fallout, but these measures have done little to boost his approval ratings.
• The largest faction of the LDP, once led by late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is facing possible collapse due to the scandal, with a wave of frustration and panic sweeping across its members.
• Prosecutors are attempting to build cases against accountants from the factions, alleging the groups failed to declare hundreds of millions of yen of fundraising party revenue in political funding reports.