Anger is growing among Liberal Democratic Party members in the House of Councillors over the reprimand given to former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and three other LDP lower house members who left the chamber before a vote on the consumption tax cut bill.
The complaint is that the penalty is too light. Party rules set out eight levels of discipline, from expulsion at the heaviest to a reprimand, which ranks second from the bottom. Some members say that will not act as a deterrent when the upper house votes.
The tax-cut bill enters debate in the House of Councillors on the 11th. Some in the party worry the handling of the four will complicate its efforts to build a majority among opposition parties.
A signal about the next leadership race
The four walked out before the lower house plenary vote on the bill. Ishiba is the first former party president to be reprimanded, a penalty that leaves him inside the party and eligible for its top job.
How firmly the leadership treats a former president's dissent is read inside the party as a sign of how much room the next leadership contest will leave for challenges from the floor.
Discontent has also surfaced over the treatment of other members. The party moved to effectively replace Yuko Obuchi, deputy chair of the tax research commission, after she asked to be sacked, according to reports.
The party headquarters also reprimanded Hajime Funada, an LDP lower house member, for leaving before the vote on the consumption tax cut bill.