With political reform one of the top issues in the Sept. 27 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi proposed a new independent agency to regulate political funding and campaigns as he announced his candidacy to lead the ruling party on Tuesday.

By entering the race, he becomes the fourth person to have formally declared a bid to become LDP president, and by default, Japan’s next prime minister.

“The use of political funds is opaque and it’s important to increase transparency and eliminate gray areas (on where the funds go). I’d like to propose that an independent administrative agency modeled after the US FEC (Federal Election Commission) be considered, and that it be given a monitoring and supervisory function,” Hayashi, 63, said.