APPROVAL ratings for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s government have dropped sharply, polls showed, as the leader faces a backlash for distributing expensive gift vouchers to rookie ruling-party lawmakers.
The Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan almost continuously since 1955, has been convulsed by a series of corruption scandals, including one over kickbacks to lawmakers that sank Ishiba’s predecessor.
Just 26% of voters polled by the Asahi Shimbun expressed support for Ishiba’s cabinet, a dramatic fall from the 40% who felt similarly in the same survey in February.
A separate survey by the Yomiuri Shimbun put support for the administration at 31%, down from 39% in February.
Both were the lowest since Ishiba took office in October.
Ishiba, 68, has come under fire for handing out gift vouchers each worth ¥100,000 (RM3,000) to 15 new LDP lawmakers – a move he has defended as legally sound and not a political donation.
Grilled by opposition MPs in parliament, Ishiba apologised on Friday “for causing trouble and worry to many people” over the voucher scandal.
Ishiba said the vouchers – which he paid for personally – were intended as a token of appreciation for the families of lawmakers who took office for the first time.
The Asahi poll showed that 75% of people thought the gift voucher distribution was problematic, against 23% who thought it wasn’t.
In the Yomiuri poll, 75% saw the gift vouchers as a problem, against 19% who didn’t.
The flagging support could provoke attempts within the LDP to pressure Ishiba to step down ahead of an election in July for parliament’s upper house. — AFP
