Japan’s Internal Affairs Minister Minoru Terada on Sunday (November 20) quit marking the exit of third minister from PM Fumio Kishida’s cabinet in a matter of a month.
Minoru Terada quit over allegations of mismanagement of political funds. He had acknowledged to parliament that his local campaign group had even listed a dead person as its treasurer in annual financial statements.
He faces allegations of illegal payments to staff during his re-election campaign last year.
“I just tendered (my) resignation to the prime minister,” Terada told a hastily arranged news conference on Sunday night.
“I felt my problems over political funds must not become a hindrance” to parliament, he said.
Terada’s resignation has come on the final day of Kishida’s tour to Thailand for Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit.
Kishida is on the backfoot after resignations of three ministers.
“I would like to apologise deeply for the fact that a series of cabinet ministers ended up resigning during the parliamentary session,” Kishida told reporters after accepting Terada’s resignation.
The string of resignations has been dubbed “resignation dominoes” by the Japanese media.
The approval rating for Kishida’s government is barely more than 30 percent, its lowest level since he took office last year, according to the latest NHK poll.
(With inputs from agencies)
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