Opinions are divided among members of Japan's main ruling Liberal Democratic Party about the need for factions.

The LDP taskforce for political reform held a meeting on Tuesday for all lawmakers of the party, following a political fund scandal involving some of its factions. About 150 members attended.

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said the LDP faces strong public criticism and distrust, and urged members to be united in dealing with the issue with a strong sense of crisis.

Some LDP factions, including the largest once led by the late former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, gave excess money earned from selling fundraising party tickets back to offices of member lawmakers.

Failure to mention the money in political fund reports led to investigations by Tokyo prosecutors and arrests of an LDP lawmaker and his secretary.

At the meeting, some members said the factions should be disbanded, as the public now distrusts them. But others said factions are needed as they are used to train young lawmakers and share information.

Some said that if factions are maintained, they should be reformed so they do not raise funds or coordinate personnel affairs such as selections for posts.

To prevent a recurrence of the scandal, some members called for harsher punishment of those who violate the political funds law. They proposed a system for holding politicians responsible if their offices submit false political fund reports.

One member said it is improper that nobody explains the details of the scandal.

Some members of the Abe faction said it should disband.

The taskforce plans to hear from external experts in law and accounting on Wednesday. It will hold another meeting for all LDP lawmakers to work out an interim report.