[/floatl]Asahi: Gap widens in average assets held by LDP and Minshuto members in Upper House
The sweeping victory by the opposition Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) in the Upper House election last July brought in a bunch of lawmakers with relatively little in the way of financial assets. On the other hand, those members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who managed to keep their seats were reasonably well-heeled...Average assets held by victorious LDP candidates stood at 46.61 million yen compared with 13.86 million yen for Minshuto members. In a 2005 survey of Upper House members, the gap was 1.33 times. Now the figure is 3.36...According to Asahi Shimbun calculations, average assets of all the July election winners stood at 23.78 million yen, down 9 percent from 2005 and the lowest since the asset disclosure system started in 1993...Norihiko Narita, president of Surugadai University...said, "Thanks to the favorable winds for Minshuto in the election, many 'ordinary people' won by running on the party's ticket. Because of that, the average amount of their assets declined. But in the LDP camp, which suffered serious defeat, only candidates with strong support bases and sufficient funds were able to win the election. As a result, the average amount of their assets rose"...In the LDP, the average amount of assets among candidates who won in the July Upper House election was higher than that of those who lost...more...
