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Japan Factions
In a sense, the LDP was not a single organization but a
conglomeration of competitive factions, which, despite the
traditional emphasis on consensus and harmony, engaged in
bitter
infighting. Over the years, factions numbered from six to
thirteen,
with as few as four members and as many as 120, counting
those in
both houses. The system was operative in both houses,
although it
was more deeply entrenched in the House of Representatives
than in
the less powerful House of Councillors. Faction leaders
usually
were veteran LDP politicians. Many, but not all, had
served as
prime minister.
Faction leaders offered their followers services
without which
the followers would have found it difficult, if not
impossible, to
survive politically. Leaders provided funds for the
day-to-day
operation of Diet members' offices and staff as well as
financial
support during expensive election campaigns. As discussed
earlier,
the operating allowances provided by the government were
inadequate. The leader also introduced his followers to
influential
bureaucrats and business people, which made it much easier
for the
followers to satisfy their constituents' demands.
Historically, the most powerful and aggressive faction
leader
in the LDP was Tanaka Kakuei, whose dual-house strength in
the
early 1980s exceeded 110. His followers remained loyal
despite the
fact that he had been convicted of receiving ¥500 million
(nearly
US$4 million) in bribes from Lockheed to facilitate the
purchase of
its passenger aircraft by All Nippon Airways and that he
had
formally withdrawn from the LDP. Tanaka and his bitterest
factional
rival, Fukuda Takeo, were a study in contrasts. Tanaka was
a roughhewn wheeler-dealer with a primary school education who
had made a
fortune in the construction industry; Fukuda was an elite
product
of the University of Tokyo Law Faculty and a career
bureaucrat.
In the face of Fukuda's strong opposition, Tanaka
engineered
the selections of prime ministers Ohira Masayoshi
(1978-80) and
Suzuki Zenko (1980-82). The accession of Nakasone Yasuhiro
to the
prime ministership in 1982 would also not have occurred
without
Tanaka's support. As a result, Nakasone, at that time a
politically
weak figure, was nicknamed "Tanakasone." But Tanaka's
faction was
dealt a grave blow when one of his subordinates, Takeshita
Noboru,
decided to form a breakaway group. Tanaka suffered a
stroke in
November 1985, but four years passed before he formally
retired
from politics.
The LDP faction system was closely fitted to the House
of
Representatives' medium-sized, multiple-member election
districts.
The party usually ran more than one candidate in each of
these
constituencies to maintain its lower house majority, and
these
candidates were from different factions. During an
election
campaign, the LDP, in a real sense, ran not only against
the
opposition but also against itself. In fact, intraparty
competition
within one election district was often more bitter than
interparty
competition, with two or more LDP candidates vying for the
same
block of conservative votes. For example, in the House of
Representatives election of February 18, 1990, three LDP
and three
opposition candidates competed for five seats in a
southwestern
prefecture. Two of the LDP candidates publicly expressed
bitterness
over the entry of the third, a son of the prefectural
governor.
Local television showed supporters of one of the LDP
candidates
cheering loudly when the governor's son was edged out for
the fifth
seat by a Komeito candidate.
Data as of January 1994
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