was a
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 ...
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 ...
founded 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 ...
. The party was founded just before the call of the
2017 general election. The party's ideology was mainly Japanese conservatism and
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
.
Kibō no Tō merged with the
Democratic Party to form the
Democratic Party For the People on 7 May 2018. However, some
right-wing populist
Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishm ...
members decided to form a new party with the same name. In October 2021, the party disbanded a second time.
History
In 2016's
gubernatorial election
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...
, Governor Koike was elected as the Governor with membership of the
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) even though she was not the official candidate of the party.
[The official candidate was Hiroya Masuda.] Then, she formed a regional party:
Tomin First no Kai, which was founded for the
2017 metropolitan election. The
Komeito party supported Governor Koike in the metropolitan council, even though they were part of the
coalition government
A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...
with the LDP at the national level. At this time, the party was described as
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 ...
.
Then, on 25 September 2017, after
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Shinzo 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 (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...
had called
October 2017 general election, Koike announced that she will found a national party called Kibō no Tō based on the Tomin First no Kai. Because Kibō no Tō at the time declared it as a centrist liberal party, the support rate of it was once ranked the second among political parties in Japan briefly after its foundation. The largest opposing party
Democratic Party (DP) at the time, troubled by its continuous low support rate since 2012, announced that the party had abandoned plans to contest the
2017 general election because
Seiji Maehara, a conservative in DP and the leader of DP at the time, decided to start the merger with Kibō no Tō. 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 many of the party's existing representatives contesting the election as candidates for Kibō no Tō. This led to the split on 2 October 2017 of the
Constitutional Democratic Party
The Constitutional Democratic Party (, K-D), also called Constitutional Democrats and formally the Party of People's Freedom (), was a political party in the Russian Empire that promoted Western constitutional monarchy—among other policies� ...
, which consists of left-leaning and liberal DP politicians whom Koike had rejected as Kibō no Tō candidates.
It was reported that the Kibō no Tō is tightly connected to some far-right organizations like
Ganbare Nippon founded by
Satoru Mizushima. Some members of Kibō no Tō, like
Nariaki Nakayama, are far-rightist, too.
The support rate of Kibō no Tō then dramatically decreased before the election and finally it only won 50 seats, even lower than the newly-founded
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 ...
.
On 10 November 2017, the party held a
leadership election to elect a co-leader of the party.
Yūichirō Tamaki was elected in the caucus election by a margin of 39 to 14. Koike resigned as party leader on 14 November 2017 as a result of the poor performance in the general election, leaving Tamaki as a sole leader.
On 24 April 2018, the leadership of Kibō and the
Democratic Party announced in a joint press conference that both parties agreed to merge in May 2018 under the name
Democratic Party For the People (DPFP). Several factions in both parties do not plan to join the new party. The members of these factions are expected to form their own splinter party, join other parties or become independents.
Post-DPFP merger reestablishment
Prior to the merger, far-right members of Kibō led by
Shigefumi Matsuzawa stated that they intended to form a separate party that retains the Kibō no Tō name. The party was formed on 7 May 2018, on the same day with the DPFP merger.
On 5 June 2018, Former Secretary-general
Kuniko Koda
is a Japanese politician and a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature).
Early life and education
Koda was born in Tono City, Iwate Prefecture, on 8 September 1965. She graduated from International Christian Univ ...
left the party, so Kibō no Tō lost its legal status as a political party and became a political organization.
On 28 May 2019, Matsuzawa resigned as party leader, and
Nariaki Nakayama became the new party leader.
On 10 October 2021, Nakayama, the only member of the Diet, did not run for the next House of Representatives election and indicated his intention to retire from politics. On the 18th of the same month, Nakayama officially announced his retirement at a press conference, revealing that the Party of Hope, which he represented, had dissolved on the 1st of the same month.
中山成彬氏 政界引退を正式表明・宮崎県
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Presidents of party
Election results
House of Representatives
Footnotes
Logos
Logo of Kibō no Tō.svg, (2017–2018)
Kibo no To Logo.png, (2018–2022)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kibo no To
2017 establishments in Japan
2018 establishments in Japan
2018 disestablishments in Japan
2021 disestablishments in Japan
Conservative parties in Japan
Japanese nationalist parties
Neoliberal parties
Political parties established in 2017
Political parties established in 2018
Political parties disestablished in 2018
Political parties disestablished in 2021
Right-wing populism in Japan
Right-wing populist parties