Japan LDP Lawmakers Forming Faction-Like Groups

Tokyo, April 3 (Jiji Press)--Liberal Democratic Party members are forming intraparty groups in a bid to expand their sway in the Japanese ruling party, after most of the party's factions disbanded following a slush funds scandal.

On Thursday, former internal affairs minister Ryota Takeda held the first meeting of a new study group he heads, in the Diet, the country's parliament.

The meeting was attended by about 20 people, including former postdisaster reconstruction minister Katsuei Hirasawa, who, like Takeda, belonged to a now-defunct faction led by former LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai.

"We'll create a new political role model that is completely different from factions in form," Takeda said at the meeting.

To differentiate itself from former factions, the study group will not file as a political organization. It will meet once a week in the daytime to discuss security, food and energy issues.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]