Japan '07 Political Funds Total 286 B. Yen

Tokyo, Oct. 3 (Jiji Press)--Political funds raised in Japan in 2007
increased 6.4 pct from the previous year to 286.6 billion yen, the first increase in four years, a Jiji Press survey found.

Political parties and fund management bodies stepped up
fund-raising activities, mainly because of a House of Councillors election
last year.
However, because of the sluggish economy, the figure was the
second-lowest in a decade.
Total expenditures by political parties and groups rose 23.2 pct to
308.2 billion yen.
Of the total income, 158.8 billion yen was registered with the
election management committees of Japan's 47 prefectures, up 11.3 pct. The
amount reported to the central government totaled 127.8 billion yen, up 0.8
pct.
Details on the central government portion were published last
month, while complete data on locally reported funds was available on
Thursday.
Of the total income, donations from individuals, companies and
other organizations came to 98 billion yen, up 17.0 pct. More than 70 pct of
the donations were collected locally.
Income from fund-raising parties plunged 22.7 pct to 21.2 billion
yen. Income from party membership and other fees totaled 28.2 billion yen,
the lowest since 1983 when the government started collecting data.
By political party, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party reported
the highest total income of 68.1 billion yen, followed by the Japanese
Communist Party with 57.7 billion yen, the LDP's coalition partner New
Komeito with 27.2 billion yen, and the largest opposition Democratic Party
of Japan with 25.7 billion yen.