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's Japan Post privatisation bills which led to a snap election. On March 21, 2013 party leader Shozaburo Jimi announced that he was disbanding the party.

History

The Kokumin Shinto, originally headed by Shizuka Kamei, 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 Die ...

, former Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lower house members

Hisaoki Kamei is a former Japanese politician of the now defunct People's New Party and was a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Kanoashi District, Shimane and graduate of Gakushuin University, he ran unsucce ...

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 members Kensei Hasegawa from the LDP and

Tamura Hideaki Tamura (usually written 田村), a Japanese placename and family name, may refer to: In places: *Tamura, Fukushima, a city in Japan *Tamura District, Fukushima, in Japan *Tamura Station, in Nagahama, Japan People with the surname Tamura: *Tamura ( ...

from the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the main opposition. Most of the members of the Kokumin Shinto were formerly members of the

Shisuikai Shisuikai ( ja, 志帥会) is a faction within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). It is led by former LDP secretary-general Toshihiro Nikai. It is considered to be a mid-sized faction. Nikai is considered to be one of the most pro-China lawmakers ...

(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 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 pending the outcome of an extradition hearing to decide whether he would be returned to Peru 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 Shozaburo Jimi 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 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 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