Headquarters of the People's New Party (2009

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 former Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2009. He is ...

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's the nation's largest employer, with over 400,000 employees, and run ...

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. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...

. On March 21, 2013 party leader

Shozaburo Jimi 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 (national legislature). Jimi is a registered medical practitioner, and was a graduate of the department of medicine a ...

announced that he was disbanding the party.

History

The Kokumin Shinto, originally headed by

Shizuka Kamei is a former Japanese politician and a former chairman of the Parliamentary League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty. Early life He was born in the city of Shōbara in Hiroshima Prefecture into a poor family. He studied at the department o ...

, included former

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

speaker

Tamisuke Watanuki is a Japanese politician from the Toyama Prefecture. He started his own export-import company at age 28. He graduated from the Department of Economics at Keio University and ran for the Prefectural Assembly in 1959. He was elected to the Di ...

, 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 Financial ...

, and

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, ...

members

Kensei Hasegawa is a Japanese politician of the People's New Party, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Kumagaya, Saitama and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he worked at the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunic ...

from the LDP and Tamura Hideaki from the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic Part ...

(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 Kenya Fujimori Inomoto ( or ; born 28 July 1938) is a Peruvian politician, professor and former engineer who was President of Peru from 28 July 1990 until 22 November 2000. Frequently described as a dictator, * * * * * * he remains a ...

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 the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

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

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

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 a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Ideology

People's New Party was described as having a

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

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 is a Japanese politician. He has served one term in the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors for the Tottori At-large district. After being elected in 2010 as a candidate for the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Liberal Democratic ...

remained as diet representatives.

Daily Yomiuri The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are t ...

br>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 Syncretic political movements Fujimorism Political parties disestablished in 2013 Defunct political parties in Japan Far-right politics in Japan 2005 establishments in Japan 2013 disestablishments in Japan