Fumio Kishida's resignation from Japan's ruling party

 Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Saturday his intention to resign from the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP),... amid criticism that five factions of the party underreported their income in political fund reports. Different factions from the ruling Liberal Democrats have been accused of paying bribes to MPs who oversold their quota for fundraising events. These factions apparently also did not include the related payments in their financial reports. While previous Japanese prime ministers usually stepped down as leaders of their respective factions during their terms in office to avoid patronage politics, Kishida had held the party leadership position since taking over as prime minister in October 2021. Under Japanese law, if funds donated by supporters to political parties exceed 200,000 yen ($1,300), the donor's name must be registered; But as evidence shows, Kochiaki's faction hid hundreds of millions of yen for five years without mentioning the name of the donor. Last year, four ministers in Kishida's cabinet submitted their resignations to the prime minister after a political scandal. The ministers resigned after Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party's close ties to the Unification Church came to light following the assassination of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.