The People's New Party (国民新党 ''Kokumin Shintō'', PNP) was a Japanese political party formed on August 17, 2005, in the aftermath of the defeat of Prime Minister

Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi ( ; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a Japanese retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ...

Japan Post was a Japanese statutory corporation that existed from 2003 to 2007, offering postal and package delivery services, Retail banking, banking services, and life insurance. It is the nation's largest employer, with over 400,000 employees, and ru ...

privatisation bills which led to a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...

. On March 21, 2013, party leader

Shozaburo Jimi Shozaburo Jimi (自見庄三郎, Jimi Shōzaburō; born 5 November 1945) is a former Japanese politician of the now defunct People's New Party, and was a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan, Diet (national legislature). Earl ...

announced that he was disbanding the party.

History

The Kokumin Shinto, originally headed by Shizuka Kamei, included former

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

speaker Tamisuke Watanuki, former Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lower house members Hisaoki Kamei,

Tadahiro Matsushita was a Japanese politician and five-time member of the House of Representatives of Japan. He served in government from 1962 when he joined the Ministry of Construction to 2012. At the time of his death, he was the Minister of State for Financia ...

, and

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers (Japan), House of Peers. If the t ...

members Kensei Hasegawa from the LDP and Tamura Hideaki from the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a Centrism, centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to Centre-left politics, centre-left, Liberalism, liberal or Social liberalism, social-liberal List of political parties in Japan, ...

(DPJ), the main opposition. Most of the members of the Kokumin Shinto were formerly members of the Shisuikai (also known as Kamei Faction) of the LDP. Their strong links to the postal lobby forced them to go against Koizumi's plans to privatise the postal system. While Watanuki was made party leader, Kamei was also seen as a public face for the party. In the 2005 snap election, the party was able to retain four seats, matching the pre-election total, with two single-seat members (Watanuki and Shizuka Kamei) and two proportional members (Hisaoki Kamei and new member Masaki Itokawa). However, the overwhelming victory of the LDP, with a new two-thirds majority in the lower house, made it unlikely that they would be able to exert influence on government policy. In June 2007, party head Shizuka Kamei announced that former President of Peru

Alberto Fujimori Alberto Kenji Fujimori Fujimori (26 July 1938 – 11 September 2024) was a Peruvian politician, professor, and engineer who served as the 54th president of Peru from 1990 to 2000.* * * * * * * Born in Lima, Fujimori was the country's fir ...

would be running for a seat in the House of Councillors under the banner of the People's New Party. At the time of the initial announcement, Fujimori was under house arrest in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

pending the outcome of an extradition hearing to decide whether he would be returned to

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

to face charges of corruption and human rights violations there. On 11 July 2007 Chilean Judge Orlando Alvarez ruled against the extradition; however, Fujimori remained under house arrest, and was unable to return to Japan for his campaign. He would ultimately fail in his bid. After the 2009 general election, on 16 September 2009, a new government was formed; the PNP became a part of the ruling coalition led by the DPJ. After that the party suffered in the next Councillor election and

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

Ideology

People's New Party was described as having a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

political position. The party was initially almost exclusively defined by its opposition to Koizumi's politics as expressed in the post privatisation debate. Eventually their platform was broadened to include ideals of serving and protecting the people, and engaging in "warm, friendly politics".

Election results

House of Representatives

House of Councillors

Disbanded

On March 21, 2013, party leader

announced that he was disbanding the party. At that time only Jimi and Kazuyuki Hamada remained as diet representatives. Daily Yomiuribr>PNP head Jimi disbands 2-member party
March 23, 2013

References

External links

Official website
{{Liberal Democratic Party of Japan Political parties established in 2005 Conservative parties in Japan Political parties disestablished in 2013 Defunct political parties in Japan 2005 establishments in Japan 2013 disestablishments in Japan