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Democratic Party of Japan
Party President:Ichiro Ozawa
Secretary General:Yukio Hatoyama
Founded:1998
Headquarters: 1-11-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-0014
Japan
Representatives:113
Councillors:83
Political ideology:Liberalism
Website:Democratic Party of Japan

The is a social liberal party in Japan. It is Japan's second largest party and main opposition party. It grew from a small party to a major force in modern Japan.

History

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was formed on April 27, 1998. It was a merger of four previously independent parties that were opposed to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) (LDP)—the previous Democratic Party of Japan, the Good Governance Party (民政党, Minseito), the New Fraternity Party (新党友愛, Shinto-Yuai), and the Democratic Reform Party (民主改革連合, Minshu-Kaikaku-Rengo). These were all new parties that were either liberal or social-democratic. The new party began with ninety-three members of the House of Representatives and thirty-eight members of the House of Councillors.

In 2001, the DPJ elected Japan's first European and foreign-born Diet member, Marutei Tsurunen (born Martti Turunen in Finland), showing its anti-traditionalism and liberalism. The party grew and won a significant number of seats in the 2000 and 2001 Diet elections.

On September 24, 2003, the party formally merged with the small, center-right Liberal Party led by Ichiro Ozawa—the move was largely considered to be done in preparation for the election on November 9, 2003. This move immediately gave the DPJ eight more seats in the House of Councillors.

On October 22, 2003, in a speech delivered jointly by former Party President Naoto Kan and former Liberal Party President Ichiro Ozawa in Okayama, Kan stated: "The LDP should give up the reins of power to the DPJ for once, creating a two-party system that will enable changes of government to take place."

In the elections themselves, the Democrats gained a total of 178 seats. This was short of their objectives, but nevertheless a significant demonstration of the new group's strength. Following a pension scandal, Naoto Kan resigned, and was replaced with a moderate liberal—Katsuya Okada.

In the 2004 House of Councillors elections, the DPJ won a seat more than the ruling Liberal Democrats, but the LDP still maintained its firm majority in total votes. However, this was an extremely important outcome, since it was the first time since its inception that the LDP had garnered fewer votes than another party. Pundits hypothesized that this might signal a shift in Japanese politics away from the catch-all LDP. It remained to be seen, however, whether or not this was simply the result of protest votes against the LDP, who had been rocked by the national pension scandal earlier that year.

The 2005 snap parliamentary elections called by Koizumi in response to the rejection of his Japan Post privatization bill saw a major setback to the DPJ's plans of obtaining a majority in the Diet. The DPJ leadership, particularly Okada, had staked their reputation on winning the election and driving the LDP from power. When the final results were in, the DPJ had lost 62 seats, mostly to its rival the LDP, which had been steadily losing seats for many years. Okada resigned the party leadership, fulfilling his campaign promise to do so if the DPJ did not obtain a majority in the Diet. He was replaced by Seiji Maehara in September 2005. Despite this electoral setback, the Democratic Party remains the primary rival of the ruling Liberal Democrats and their coalition partner New Komeito, although it is now significantly weakened.

DPJ members sit with members of the Independent's Club, a coalition of Democrats who are liberal centrists, in both houses of the Diet.

Other facts

  • The party's logo is two red circles overlapping.
  • The DPJ gains much of its support from blue-collar workers and also from the liberal middle class. It is also gaining support from women and from the urban classes.
  • On domestic policy, the party is liberal, and is the largest opposition party and also Japan's largest centrist party.
  • The DPJ also counts several members of non-Japanese ancestry, including Marutei Tsurunen (the first European member of the Diet) and Ren Hou (half-Taiwanese).

Factions

The Democrats do have some factions, or groups, as they are more commonly called, but are not as factionalized as the LDP, which has traditionally placed high priority on intra-party factional alignment. The groups are, from the most influential to the least influential:

The Independent's Club, a liberal centrist faction which sits with the Democratic Party in both chambers of the house, is not a separate political entity, yet part of the Democratic Party (not a faction or group) which calls itself the Independent's Club.

The largest and most influential faction is the Hatoyama Faction. Former party president Katsuya Okada sits with no faction, yet he supports the Kan Group.

President of DPJ

See also

External links

The official website of the Democratic Party. Has a very organized English section, and also a fast and reliable e-mail address on both the Japanese and English pages.

Liberal parties | Political parties in Japan | 1998 establishments

Demokratische Partei Japans | Partido Democrático de Japón | Parti démocrate du Japon | 民主党 (1996-) | Partia Demokratyczna (Japonia) | Japans Demokratiska Parti | 日本民主党

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Democratic Party of Japan".

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