Democratic Party of Japan

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For more background on this topic, see List of political parties in Japan.
Democratic Party of Japan
Image:Minnih.gif
Party President:Maehara Seiji
Secretary General:Hatoyama yukio
Founded:1998
Headquarters:

1-11-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-0014
Japan

Representatives:113
Councillors:83
Political ideology:liberal
Website:Democratic Party of Japan

The Democratic Party of Japan (民主党, Minshutō) is a 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 post-war Japan.

Contents

History

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was formed on April 27, 1998. It was an merger of four previously independent parties that were opposed to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) (LDP)—a 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 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 Dietary elections.

On September 24, 2003, the party formally merged with the small, centre-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. The Democratic Party remains the primary rival of the ruling Liberal Democrats.

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

In the 2005 parlamentary elections, the DPJ lost 62 of their seats in the House of Representatives.

Other information

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 spends more of its time fighting internally rather than against opposition parties. 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. 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.

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Democratic_Party_of_Japan.html"


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