Democratic Party (Japan, 2016)
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The was a
political party in Japan In Japan, any organization that supports a candidate needs to register itself as a political party. Each of these parties have some local or national influence. This article lists political parties in Japan with representation in the National Die ...
. It was the largest opposition political party in Japan from 2016 until its marginalization in the House of Representatives in 2017.民進英語名、略称DPに
Yomiuri Shimbun
The party was founded on 27 March 2016 from the merger of 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, ...
and the
Japan Innovation Party The is a conservative and centre-right to right-wing populist political party in Japan. Formed as Initiatives from Osaka in October 2015 from a split in the old Japan Innovation Party, the party became the third-biggest opposition party in ...
. The majority of the party split on 28 September 2017, before the 2017 general election. Many of its members contesting the election as candidates for the Party of Hope,
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan The is a Liberalism, liberal List of political parties in Japan, political party in Japan. It is the primary centre-left politics, centre-left party in Japan, and as of 2024 is the second largest party in the National Diet behind the ruling L ...
or as party members without nomination. On 7 May 2018 the DP merged with the Party of Hope to form the Democratic Party For the People.


Etymology

The party's Japanese name ''Minshintō'' combines "min" from ''minshu'' ("democratic") and , not from ''ishin'' (innovation). A literal translation of the name in English would be "Democratic Progressive Party", identical to the Taiwanese centre-left party which also shared the same Chinese characters. However, the party officially stated its English name as the Democratic Party.


History


Foundation

On 24 February 2016 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) and the
Japan Innovation Party The is a conservative and centre-right to right-wing populist political party in Japan. Formed as Initiatives from Osaka in October 2015 from a split in the old Japan Innovation Party, the party became the third-biggest opposition party in ...
(JIP) announced that they were to merge at a special convention on 27 March to form a new opposition party in order to better compete with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in an Upper House election that was scheduled for later the same year. On 4 March 2016, the DPJ and JIP asked the public for suggestions for a name for the merged party. On 14 March 2016, the name of the new party was announced as ''Minshintō'' (Democratic Progressive Party), the most popular shortlisted name among polled voters and preferred by the JIP, beating ''Rikken Minshutō'' (Constitutional Democratic Party) that was preferred by the DPJ. On 18 March 2016, the official English language title of the new party was announced as the Democratic Party. On 22 March, the DPJ announced that 4 sitting Representatives from Vision of Reform would join the party at its launch. The new party was founded on 27 March 2016 with the leadership consisting of
Katsuya Okada is a Japanese politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Japan from January to December 2012. A member of the House of Representatives of Japan, he was the President of the Democratic Party (Japan, 2016), Democratic Party, and previously of th ...
as party president, Yukio Edano as secretary-general and
Shiori Yamao is a former member of the Japanese House of Representatives for the Aichi 7th district. Yamao was a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan from 2017 to 2020. She was the policy chief of the Democratic Party and a former libe ...
as policy chief. The party platform committed to protecting the existing pacifist Japanese constitution, and stating opposition to the " Abenomics" policies of Prime Minister
Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving pri ...
.


2016 House of Councillors election

The
election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...
on 10 July 2016 was the first major election contested by the new party. Following the merger, the party entered the election with 62 seats in the 242-seat House, with 45 of those 62 seats being contested. During the nomination period, the party signed an agreement with the
Japanese Communist Party The is a communist party in Japan. Founded in 1922, it is the oldest political party in the country. It has 250,000 members as of January 2024, making it one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party is chaired ...
(JCP),
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...
and
People's Life Party The was a political party in Japan that merged with the Democratic Party For the People on 26 April 2019. It had 2 out of the 475 seats in the House of Representatives, and 3 in the 242-member House of Councillors prior to merging. Formed as t ...
to field a jointly-endorsed candidate in each of the 32 districts in which only one seat is contested, uniting in an attempt to take control of the House from the ruling LDP–
Komeito , formerly New Komeito (NKP) and commonly referred to as simply Komei, is a political party in Japan founded by the leader of Soka Gakkai, Daisaku Ikeda, in 1964. It is generally considered centrist and socially conservative. Since 2012, i ...
coalition. Despite the agreement, Democratic Party leader Okada stated that forming a coalition government with the JCP would be "impossible" in the near future due to some of the "extreme leftist policies" promoted by the JCP. The party had a total of 55 official candidates contesting the election, the same number as the DPJ in the 2013 election and the third-most behind the LDP and Communist Party. 33 candidates contested the single- and multi-member districts and 22 were in the party's list for the 48-seat national proportional representation block. A further 15 independent candidates contesting single-seat districts were endorsed by the party. The party suffered a considerable defeat at the hands of the ruling coalition, losing 13 seats overall. Five of the 15 endorsed independents were also elected, including two that claimed seats formerly held by retiring Democratic Party members. Following the loss, Okada announced he would not seek re-election as leader at the party's annual meeting in September.


2017 Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election and Renhō's resignation

The 2017
Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly The is the Prefectures of Japan, prefectural parliament of Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis. Its 127 members are elected every four years in 42 districts by single non-transferable vote. 23 electoral districts equal the Special wards of Tokyo, special wa ...
election caused the party to lose 13 seats in the Assembly, which left them with only 5 seats. This prompted both the secretary-general,
Yoshihiko Noda is a Japanese politician. He is the current leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), and has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2000. From 2011 to 2012, he was the Prime Minister of Japan. Noda entered po ...
, on 25 July 2017, and the president of the party, Renhō, on 27 July 2017, to resign. This is regarded as showing how public trust for the DP has declined.


2017 leadership election

The election for a new leader to replace Renhō took place on 1 September, and campaigning began on 21 August. The two candidates were Seiji Maehara, who announced his intention to run on 2 August, and Yukio Edano, who declared his candidacy on 1 August. The election was won by Maehara.


2017 House of Representatives election and aftermath

On 28 September 2017, Maehara announced that the party had abandoned plans to contest the 2017 general election scheduled for 22 October. The DP caucus in the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
disbanded, with the party's existing representatives set to contest the election as candidates for the Party of Hope recently formed by Tokyo governor
Yuriko Koike Yuriko Koike (小池 百合子, Koike Yuriko; born 15 July 1952) is a Japanese politician who has served as the Governor of Tokyo since 2016. Previously, she was also served as a member of the House of Councillors from 1992 to 1993, a member o ...
or as independents. On 2 October 2017, DP deputy president Yukio Edano announced the formation of the
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan The is a Liberalism, liberal List of political parties in Japan, political party in Japan. It is the primary centre-left politics, centre-left party in Japan, and as of 2024 is the second largest party in the National Diet behind the ruling L ...
(CDP) for liberals and left-leaning members of the DP whom Koike had rejected for running as Party of Hope candidates. On 23 October 2017, in the aftermath of the election, Maehara announced his resignation as party president, with the CDP having replaced the DP as the largest opposition party in the lower house, while the DP continues to exist in the House of Councillors. On 31 October 2017, member of the House of Councillors Kohei Otsuka was chosen as the leader of the Democratic Party to succeed Maehara.


Road to a new party

In January 2018, the DP and the Party of Hope agreed to form a joint parliamentary group in both houses of the Diet, with each party remaining organisationally separate, but being subject to a common whip. However, several days later, the negotiations broke down. On 9 April 2018, it was announced that exploratory talks to merge the DP and Party of Hope into a new opposition party were being held. On 24 April 2018, the leadership of the DP and the Party of Hope announced in a joint press conference that both parties had agreed to merge in May 2018 under the name National Democratic Party. Several factions in both parties did not plan to join the new party. The members of these factions are expected to form their own splinter parties or remain as independents. The DP and Party of Hope merged to form the Democratic Party For the People on 7 May 2018.


Policies

Democratic Party are generally classified as
centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
to
centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...
. However, unlike the "
social-liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited ...
" Democratic Party in 1998, it is generally regarded as a simple " liberal" party because it was founded by absorbing
centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
parties. The policies of the DP differed little from the policies of its predecessor, the DPJ, with policies such as increasing diversity, contributing to world peace, preserving democracy, and promoting prosperity. They are considered to be open-minded in terms of North Korea, with one member of the party saying that doing nothing would not be responsible. The DP, like its Democratic Party predecessor, is opposed to nuclear power. The DP wants to raise the minimum wage of Japan.


Presidents of the Democratic Party


Factions

The Democratic Party, like its predecessor
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, ...
, was composed of factions originating in the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan Socialist Party and the Democratic Socialist Party, augmented by the merger with the
Japan Innovation Party The is a conservative and centre-right to right-wing populist political party in Japan. Formed as Initiatives from Osaka in October 2015 from a split in the old Japan Innovation Party, the party became the third-biggest opposition party in ...
. Significant factions existing within the party included: * The Eda-Matsuno Group or the ex-Japan Innovation Party group (旧維新の党グループ ''Kyū Ishin no tō gurūpo'') led by
Kenji Eda is a Japanese politician and member of the House of Representatives of Japan, House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan, Diet (national legislature). A native of Okayama Prefecture and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he joined the Minist ...
and Yorihisa Matsuno, composed of the mostly Tokyo-centred group of the Japan Innovation Party that merged to form the Democratic Party in 2016 (the Osaka-centred group is now Nippon Ishin no Kai). * The Kan Group or the "National Structure Research Council" (国のかたち研究会 ''Koku-no-katachi kenkyūkai'') of former Prime Minister
Naoto Kan is a Japanese former politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011. Kan was the first Prime Minister since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to ...
, a moderate centrist group. * The Akamatsu Group or "Sanctuary" (サンクチュアリ ''Sankuchuari'') of Hirotaka Akamatsu, formerly of the JSP and a moderately social-democratic group. * The Genba Group or the "Grand Design Japan Research Council (『日本のグランド・デザイン』研究会 ''Nihon no gurando-dezain" kenkyūkai'') of Kōichirō Genba, a liberal group. * The ex-DSP Group or Takagi Group, known as the "Democratic Socialist Association" (民社協会 ''Minsha kyōkai'') of Yoshiaki Takaki and
Hiroshi Nakai was a Japanese politician serving in the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) as a member of the Democratic Party of Japan. He was born in Jilin, China on 10 June 1942, then part of Manchukuo. A graduate of Keio University ...
, representing the former Democratic Socialist Party tradition in the DP. Social-democratic, nationalist and revisionist. * The Ōhata Group or the "Elementary Exchange Group" (素交会 ''Sokōkai'') of Akihiro Ōhata, a moderate progressive group. * The Yokomichi Group or the "New Political Discussion Group" (新政局懇談会 ''Shin-seikyoku kondankai'') of former parliamentary speaker Takahiro Yokomichi. A social democratic group originating in the JSP and was one of the more left-wing factions of the party. * The Hosono Group or the "Oath Committee" (自誓会 ''Jiseikai'') of Gōshi Hosono. A conservative group. * The Noda Group or "Kaisei Group" (花斉会 ''Kaseikai'') of former Prime Minister
Yoshihiko Noda is a Japanese politician. He is the current leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), and has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2000. From 2011 to 2012, he was the Prime Minister of Japan. Noda entered po ...
. A moderately conservative group. * The Hiraoka-Kondō or "Liberal Committee" (リベラルの会 ''Riberaru-no-kai'') of
Shōichi Kondō is a Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). Early life Kondo started working for the Chunichi Shimbun, a major left-leaning, pro ...
and Hideo Hiraoka. A progressive liberal group. * The Nagashima Group or "National Axis Committee" (国軸の会 ''Kokujiku no kai'') of Akihisa Nagashima. A conservative, nationalist and revisionist group. * The Hata Group or "Governance Research Council" (政権戦略研究会 ''Seiken senryaku kenkyūkai'') of former Prime Minister
Tsutomu Hata was a Japanese politician who briefly served as prime minister of Japan in 1994. Born in Tokyo, Hata graduated from Seijo University and was first elected to the National Diet in 1969. He rose to become a key member of the Liberal Democratic ...
, a moderate centrist group.


Election results


General election results

In the 2017 general election of members of the House of Representatives, the Democratic Party did not nominate any candidates. Several of its remaining members were elected without party nomination. Most of these joined the formation of the "Group of Independents" (''Mushozoku no kai'') House of Representatives caucus led by
Katsuya Okada is a Japanese politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Japan from January to December 2012. A member of the House of Representatives of Japan, he was the President of the Democratic Party (Japan, 2016), Democratic Party, and previously of th ...
in October 2017. Some others such as Seiji Maehara have left the party after the election. According to the party, its membership includes 14 members of the House of Representatives as of November, 2017:Democratic Party: Members of the National Diet
House of Representatives
/ref> *
Katsuya Okada is a Japanese politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Japan from January to December 2012. A member of the House of Representatives of Japan, he was the President of the Democratic Party (Japan, 2016), Democratic Party, and previously of th ...
(member from Mie 3rd district serving in his 10th term) * Kōichirō Genba (Fukushima 3, 9th term) – not member of the "Group of Independents" in the 195th Diet as of November 1, 2017, but an independent in terms of caucus membership (see List of members of the Diet of Japan) * Jun Azumi (Miyagi 5, 8th term) *
Yoshihiko Noda is a Japanese politician. He is the current leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), and has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2000. From 2011 to 2012, he was the Prime Minister of Japan. Noda entered po ...
(Chiba 4, 8th term) * Masaharu Nakagawa (Mie 2, 8th term) * Kazuhiro Haraguchi (Saga 1, 8th term) * Hirofumi Hirano (Osaka 11, 7th term) *
Kenji Eda is a Japanese politician and member of the House of Representatives of Japan, House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan, Diet (national legislature). A native of Okayama Prefecture and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he joined the Minist ...
(Kanagawa 8, 6th term) * Takashi Shinohara (Nagano 1, 6th term) * Akio Fukuda (Tochigi 2, 5th term) * Katsuhito Nakajima (Yamanashi 1, 3rd term) – not member of the "Group of Independents" * Takahiro Kuroiwa (Niigata 3, 3rd term) * Kazuhiko Shigetoku (Aichi 12, 3rd term) – not member of the "Group of Independents" *
Emi Kaneko is a Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Constitutional Democratic Party, who serves as a member of the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan, Diet. A native of Fukushima ...
(Fukushima 1, 2nd term)


Councillors election results


Prefectural election results (incomplete)

* June 2016 Okinawa assembly election: Since the time of the national DPJ government, Democrats have been a minor force in the prefecture; the DP only nominated one candidate who was not elected. * July 2016 Kagoshima gubernatorial election: DP and SDP supported the candidacy of former journalist Satoshi Mitazono who defeated LDP-Kōmeitō-supported three-term incumbent
Yūichirō Itō is a Japanese politician and former governor of Japan, governor of Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan. A native of Izumi, Kagoshima and graduate of the University of Tokyo with the Bachelor of Laws in June 1971, he had worked at the Ministry of Home ...
. * October 2016 Niigata gubernatorial election: Ryūichi Yoneyama (LDP→JRP→JIP→DP), previously head of the DP Niigata 5th district branch and former unsuccessful candidate for both Houses of the Diet, stood with leftist support (JCP, LP, SDP, NSP, Greens) and defeated LDP-Kōmeitō-supported Tamio Mori. * July 2017 Tokyo assembly election: After having already lost several members to governor Koike's Tomin First no Kai in the run-up to the election, it lost another two seats in the election down to five.


See also

* :Democratic Party (Japan, 2016) politicians


References


External links


Democratic Party official website

Democratic Party of Japan official website

Japan Innovation Party official website
{{Authority control 2016 establishments in Japan 2018 disestablishments in Japan Centrist parties in Japan Centre-left parties in Asia Defunct liberal political parties Defunct political parties in Japan Liberal parties in Japan Political parties established in 2016 Political parties disestablished in 2018