(Update 2) LDP's Nikai Not to Run in Next Lower House Election

   Tokyo, March 25 (Jiji Press)--Toshihiro Nikai, former secretary-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Monday that he will not run in the next election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament.
   "I deeply apologize again" for causing distrust in politics, the 85-year-old LDP heavyweight told a press conference at the party's headquarters in Tokyo, referring to a high-profile slush funds scandal involving LDP factions, including the one led by himself.
   "It's natural that all political responsibility lies with me, who was in charge of supervision" of the faction's activities, he said, adding, "I will clarify my political responsibility." He said he is not planning to leave the LDP.
   Over the scandal, a former chief accountant of the Nikai faction has been indicted without arrest for allegedly failing to record some revenues from faction fundraising parties in its political funds statements. A secretary to Nikai has faced a summary indictment over the scandal.
   At the press conference, Nikai, elected to the Lower House from the No. 3 constituency in the western prefecture of Wakayama, said he has told Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, also president of the LDP, by phone that he would not run in the next Lower House poll.

(2024/03/25-17:42)

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