A political party reduced to a single lawmaker is set to receive about ¥2.9 billion in state subsidies, and its leader has told Shukan Bunshun that the money pays branch activity costs, including for candidates who lost their seats.
Wataru Watanabe, 49, the leader of Chudo Reform Alliance, gave the explanation in an interview with the magazine. The party is widely expected to be dissolved soon, and its use of subsidies to cover the running costs of unsuccessful candidates is likely to draw criticism.
Chudo was formed in mid-January by lower house members from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito. It was routed in the lower house election held on February 8, its seats falling from 167 before the vote to 49.
A party kept alive on paper
The party then sought a three-way merger with the CDP and Komeito, but that failed at the end of August. On September 9 it settled on a breakup by faction: members who came from the CDP left to form a new group, the Association for Democratic Reform, led by Junya Ogawa, while those from Komeito returned to their old party.
Chudo kept one member in the lower house and stayed registered, described as being for the purpose of winding up its affairs. It received about ¥580 million in subsidies on October 20, drawing accusations of "blood-tax thievery" from voters, and it is due to receive another ¥580 million in December.
If the party is still registered next year, an official at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said roughly ¥1.7 billion would be allocated to it on a simple calculation. Combined with the October and December payments, about ¥2.9 billion would flow to a party with one lawmaker.
Who is the one-man leader
Watanabe, who entered the lower house in 2021 as a first-time CDP candidate, became the party's sole leader. Online, he has been mocked as a "receiver" — the courier who collects money from fraud victims — a reference to the subsidy payments.
He is known as a close aide to Yukio Edano, the CDP's founder, and served as a recommender and a press conference moderator in the party's 2024 leadership race, a person connected to Chudo said.
Among the prominent politicians who lost their seats in February were Edano, Hiroshi Anzai and Katsuya Okada.