Democratic Party of Japan

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A campaigning van parked outside Hotel Rich in Niigata.

The Democratic Party of Japan (民主党, Minshutō) is a social liberal political party in Japan founded in 1998 by the merger of several smaller parties. It is the second-largest party in the House of Representatives and the largest party in the House of Councillors, and it constitutes the primary opposition to the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party.

It is not to be confused with the now-defunct Democratic Party that merged with the Liberal Party in 2003 to form the Liberal Democratic Party.

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 (LDP)—the previous Democratic Party of Japan, the Good Governance Party (民政党, Minseitō), the New Fraternity Party (新党友愛, Shintō-Yuuai), and the Democratic Reform Party (民主改革連合, Minshu-Kaikaku-Rengō). 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 Councilors. Moreover, the party officials were elected as well at the party convention for the first time; Naoto Kan, former Health and Welfare Minister was appointed as President of the party and Tsutomu Hata, former Prime Minister of 1994 as Secretary-General.

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, centre-right Liberal Party led by Ichirō Ozawa[1]—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 Councilors.

On October 22, 2003, in a speech delivered jointly by former Party President Naoto Kan and former Liberal Party President Ichirō 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 Councilors 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 Junichiro 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.

However, Maehara's term as party leader lasted barely half a year. Although he initially led the party's criticism of the Koizumi administration, particularly in regards to connections between LDP lawmakers and scandal-ridden Livedoor, the revelation that a fake email was used to try and establish this link greatly damaged his credibility. The scandal led to the resignation of Representative Hisayasu Nagata and of Maehara as party leader on March 31st. New elections for party leader were held on April 7, in which Ichirō Ozawa was elected President.

In Upper House election 2007, the DPJ won 60 out of 121 contested seats, with 49 seats not up to the election, causing the LDP to lose its majority in the upper house for the first time since its inception.

Philosophy

The Democratic Party claim themselves to be revolutionary in that they are against the current status quo and the governing establishment. The Democratic Party finds that the bureaucracy of the Japanese government size is too large, inefficient, and saturated with cronies and that the Japanese state is too conservative and stiff. The Democratic Party wants to "overthrow the ancient régime locked in old thinking and vested interests, solve the problems at hand, and create a new, flexible, affluent society which values people's individuality and vitality."[2]

The Democratic Party finds that a free market economic system is favorable for Japanese people's welfare. The claim is that they represent "citizens, taxpayers and consumers"[2], not seeking to favor either free market or the welfare state and see the government's role as limited to building the necessary system for self-reliant and independent individuals.

The Democratic Party seeks to introduce transparency of government and a decentralization of government agencies to local organizational structures including to let citizens themselves provide former government services and have a society with more just and fair rules. The Democratic party proclaims to hold the values in the meaning of the constitution to "embody the fundamental principles of the Constitution: popular sovereignty, respect for fundamental human rights, and pacifism."[2], having an international-policy non-intervention and mutual coexistence and to restore the world's trust in Japan.[2]

Other facts

House of Representatives Election in 2005
House of Councilors Election in 2007
  • 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, a Finn by ancestry) 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

  1. Naoto Kan Apr 1998–Sep 1999
  2. Yukio Hatoyama Sep 1999–Dec 2002
  3. Naoto Kan Dec 2002–May 2004
  4. Katsuya Okada May 2004–Sep 2005
  5. Seiji Maehara Sep 2005–Mar 2006
  6. Ichirō Ozawa Apr 2006–

References

  1. ^ "The Democratic Party of Japan". Democratic Party of Japan. 2006. Retrieved 2008-09-06.
  2. ^ a b c d Out Basic Philosophy - Building a free and secure society on The Democratic Party of Japan's website accessed on May 17 2008

See also

External links

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