Democratic People's Party (Japan)

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People's Democratic Party
Kokumin Minshutō
Democratic Party For the People
Parteivorsitz (Daihyō) Yūichirō Tamaki
Deputy Chair daihyō-daikō :
Kōhei Ōtsuka
Motohisa Furukawa
fuku-daihyō :
Shū Watanabe
Atsushi Ōshima
Keisuke Tsumura
Masayo Tanabu
Secretary General Hirofumi Hirano
Executive Board Chair Masao Kobayashi
PARC Chair Kenta Izumi
Parliamentary affairs Kazuhiro Haraguchi
Group chairmanship in the Sangiin Kōhei Ōtsuka
founding May 7, 2018
Headquarters 1-11-1 Nagatachō , Chiyoda , Tokyo Prefecture
Members 74,939 (2018)
Colours) blue
MPs in the Shūgiin
40/465
(June 2020)
MPs in the Sangiin
22/245
(June 2020)
Government grants 4.65 billion yen (2020)
Number of members 74,939 (2018)
Website dpfp.or.jp

The Democratic People's Party (short DVP ; Jap. 国民民主党 Kokumin Minshuto ; tight. Democratic Party For the People , in short DPFP ) is a political party in Japan . It emerged in May 2018 from the union of the Democratic Progressive Party (Minshintō, short DFP ) and Kibō no Tō (short Kibō ) and sees itself as a central alternative to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (short LDP ).

history

After the then party chairman of the DFP, Seiji Maehara , decided in September 2017, in view of the general election in October 2017 , not to nominate any candidates of his own and instead recommended that his members accept Kibō no Tō , which had recently been founded by Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike run, the DFP has since been represented in the House of Commons with only a few MPs, who no longer all gathered in one parliamentary group (most of them, however, belonged to the Mushozoku no Kai ). In addition, the Kibō no Tō had a relatively poor election result and Koike had resigned as party chairman, which is why both parties have since faced very low polls (DFP 3% to 4%; Kibō below 1%). As a result, Maehara's successor as DFP chairman, Kōhei Ōtsuka , had expressed the desire for a new party since his appointment in October 2017 to unite the fragmented opposition.

In April 2018, these plans were concretized and Ōtsuka was able to convince Kibō chairman Yūichirō Tamaki , Koike's successor, to unite their parties. Yukio Edano , chairman of the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party ( KDP for short ), and Ichirō Ozawa with his Liberal Party refused to participate in the party on the grounds that a merger of the opposition parties would make no sense at this point in time. There were also differences of opinion within the DFP about Ōtsuka's approach; many experienced members such as Yoshihiko Noda (former Prime Minister), Katsuya Okada (former Foreign and Deputy Prime Minister) and Jun Azumi (former Finance Minister) resigned from the DFP. Overall, 40% of the DFP deputies rejected a merger with the Kibō no Tō and announced that they would leave the party; even at the Kibō no Tō announced several MPs like Shigefumi Matsuzawa or Nariaki Nakayama not to join the new party and to receive the name "Kibō no Tō". At the end of April 2018, an agreement was reached on the new party name Kokumin Minshutō ( 国民 民主党 , about "Democratic People's Party"), after names such as Shintō Zero ( 新 党 ゼ ロ , about "New Party Zero") or Kaishintō ( 改進 党 , about "Reform Party") ) had been in conversation.

On May 7, 2018, the founding convention of the Democratic People's Party finally took place, at which the appearance, the board of directors and the principles of the party were announced. Before that, it was necessary for the Kibō members to leave the Kibō no Tō and join the newly established transition party Kokumintō ( 国民党 , for example "People's Party") for one day so that it could join forces with the DFP to form the Democratic People's Party shortly afterwards . Ultimately, due to internal disputes within the parties, only 62 MPs joined the DVP, while a complete merger of DFP and Kibō would have resulted in a total of 107 MPs and the DVP would have replaced the KDP (63 MPs) as the largest opposition party. As party chairmen, Ōtsuka and Tamaki acted as "co-chairpersons" ( 共同 代表 kyōdo-daihyō ) until a chairman was elected in September 2018 ; General Secretary was Motohisa Furukawa appointed, who had previously exercised that post in the Kibo no Tō. In the election on September 4, 2018, Tamaki was  elected chairman by a clear margin against the Lower House MP Keisuke Tsumura . The office of General Secretary took over on September 11th, the former Chief Cabinet Secretary  Hirofumi Hirano .

In January 2019, the DVP agreed with the Liberal Party of Ichiro Ozawa  on the formation of a common fraction respectively in the lower and upper house. Tamaki and Ozawa called this the "first step" to unite the opposition parties and spoke out in favor of further mergers, which the KDP rejected.

In the upper house election in July 2019 , the DVP received a total of six seats and thus lost two previous MPs ( Toshio Ishigami and Kusuo Ōshima ). With the accession of the independently elected Takanori Yokosawa from Iwate shortly after the election and the fact that the party member Shinji Morimoto was elected as an independent in the Hiroshima  constituency, the DVP is now back in the same number in Sangiin. In August 2019, the DVP, KDP and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) agreed on the formation of joint parliamentary groups in both chambers of the National Assembly. The joint lower house faction is called Rikken Minshu / Kokumin / Shaho / Mushozoku Forum ( 立憲 民主 ・ 国民 ・ 社保 ・ 無 所属 フ ォ ー ラ ム ) and the upper house faction Rikken / Kokumin. Shinryokufūkai / Shamin ( 立憲 ・ 国民. 新 緑 風 会 ・ 社 民 ).

In December 2019, the KDP chairman Edano proposed to the DVP and SDP that the parties be incorporated into the KDP. However, the relevant negotiations between the KDP and DVP, which were chaired by the respective secretaries-general, were interrupted without result in January 2020 due to the start of the regular session of parliament. In the negotiations, the KDP demanded that its party name and almost the entire KDP board be retained, which was rejected by the DVP. In addition, differences arose in energy policy, in which the DVP, in contrast to the KDP, which called for an exit from nuclear power by 2030, preferred restarting nuclear power plants and a longer-term nuclear phase-out.

In a new round of unification negotiations, the party finally approved the merger in August 2020, even if some DVP members around party leader Tamaki have rejected the merger. Overall, the new party is expected to be joined by around 150 members in the national parliament, including some non-party members of the joint parliamentary group. Some fundamental substantive differences are still unresolved, for example with regard to nuclear energy policy. Originally, the joint party should keep the name Rikken Minshutō, but after resistance from the DVP they agreed to jointly decide on a new name. The new party is to be created in September 2020.

Management structure

Party leader

Main article: Election of the chairman of the Japanese People's Democratic Party

Similar to the LDP, the chairman is formally elected by MPs, party members and supporters. The electoral process was taken over by the Democratic Progressive Party.

List of party leaders

Party executive

In addition to the party chairman, important positions on the party executive committee are the general secretary, the chairman of the Political Research Committee ( PARC for short ) and the chairman of the Committee for Parliamentary Affairs ( 国会 対 策 委員会 Kokkai Taisaku Iinkai , 国 対 Kokutai for short ).

List of General Secretaries
List of PARC chairs
List of Kokutai chairmen

In addition, the board of directors includes the vice - chairperson ( fuku-daihyō ), the chairman of the election campaign committee, the deputy general secretary ( kanjichō daikō ) and the deputy general secretary ( kanjichō dairi ).

Current composition (September 2018)
function Surname image
Chair Yūichirō Tamaki Yūichirō Tamaki
Deputy Chair ( daihyō-daikō ) Kōhei Ōtsuka Kōhei Ōtsuka
Motohisa Furukawa Motohisa Furukawa
Deputy Chair ( fuku-daihyō ) Shu Watanabe Shu Watanabe
Atsushi Ōshima Atsushi Ōshima
Keisuke Tsumura Keisuke Tsumurai
Masayo Tanabu Masayo Tanabu
Secretary General Hirofumi Hirano Hirofumi Hirano
Deputy Secretary General Teruhiko Mashiko Teruhiko Mashiko
Executive Board Chair Masao Kobayashi Masao Kobayashi
PARC chair Kenta Izumi Kenta Izumi
Chair of the general assembly of members of both chambers Minoru Yanagida Minoru Yanagida
Chair of the campaign committee Shuhei Kishimoto Shuhei Kishimoto
Kokutai Chair Kazuhiro Haraguchi Kazuhiro Haraguchi

Election results

National

year Lower House election results Upper house election results House of Lords Composition
Candidates Majority vote Proportional representation
Total mandates		 Candidates Majority vote Proportional representation
Total mandates
Share of votes Mandates Share of votes Mandates Share of votes Mandates Share of votes Mandates
When a party is founded 39/465 23/242
2019 28 6.5% 3/74 7.0% 3/50 6/124 21/245

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h dpfp.or.jp - 国民 民主党 役 員 一 覧 (Japanese), accessed September 14, 2018
  2. ↑ dpfp.or.jp - 国民 民主党 代表 選 挙 の 有 権 者 数 に 関 す る 公告 (Japanese), accessed September 5, 2018
  3. ↑ 衆議院 議員 . Kokumin Minshutō, 2020, accessed June 4, 2020 (Japanese).
  4. ↑ 参議院 議員 . Kokumin Minshutō, 2020, accessed June 2, 2020 (Japanese).
  5. ↑ Sōmushō, April 1, 2020: 令 和 2 年分 政党 交付 金 の 交付 決定 (PDF)
  6. ↑ 解 党 、 党 名 変 更 、 存 続… 大 塚 代表 ３ 案 を 提示 へ . In: Mainichi Shimbun . December 12, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2018 (Japanese).
  7. ↑ 民進 と 希望 、 ＧＷ に も 新 党 結成 参 院 選 、 野 党 ど う 戦 う？ . In: Asahi Shimbun . April 13, 2018, Retrieved May 7, 2018 (Japanese).
  8. ↑ a b 新 党 名 は 「国民 民主党」 に 決定 民進 と 希望 の 新 党 . In: Asahi Shimbun . April 24, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018 (Japanese).
  9. ↑ 国民党 、 国民 民主党 、 希望 の 党… １ 週 間 で ３ つ の 新 党 党 誕生！？ 国民党 は わ ず か １ １ 日 の 存在 . In: Sankei Shimbun . April 26, 2018, Retrieved May 7, 2018 (Japanese).
  10. ↑ Home Office : 政治 資金 規 正法 に 基 づ く 政治 団 体 の 届 出 (Japanese), accessed May 7, 2018
  11. ↑ 国民 民主党 、 ６２ 人 で 発 足 ＝ 共同 代表 に 大 塚 ・ 玉 木 氏 . Jiji Tsūshinsha , May 7, 2018; accessed May 7, 2018 (Japanese).
  12. ↑ dpfp.or.jp - 【臨時党大会】 (3) 「国民のための政治をともに作っていこう」玉木新代表が就任あいさつ ( page no longer available , searching web archives )  Info: The link is automatically considered marked defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Japanese). Retrieved September 5, 2018@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.dpfp.or.jp  
  13. ↑ 玉 木 氏 と 小 沢 氏 、 統一 会 派 結成 で 合意 党内 に は 異 論 も . In: Asahi Shimbun . January 24, 2019, accessed February 15, 2019 (Japanese).
  14. ↑ nhk.or.jp - 比例 国民 民主党 (Japanese), accessed September 1, 2019
  15. ↑ 横 沢 氏 が 国民 民主 に 入党 . In: Nihon Keizai Shimbun . July 24, 2019, Retrieved September 1, 2019 (Japanese).
  16. ↑ 立 民 ・ 国民 、 衆 参 で 「会 派 を 共 に」 枝 野 ・ ・ 玉 木 氏 合意 . In: nikkei.com . August 20, 2019, Retrieved September 1, 2019 (Japanese).
  17. ↑ CDP and DPP to 'join hands' in Japan's Diet in bid to thwart Abe's plans. In: The Japan Times . August 20, 2019, accessed September 1, 2019 .
  18. ↑ 立憲 民主党 と 国民 民主党 合流 で き な か っ た 理由 と は . In: NHK . January 29, 2020, accessed March 26, 2020 (Japanese).
  19. ↑ 国民 民主 、 解 党 し 立 民 と 合流 決定… 立 民 ・ 福山 氏 「新 党 規模 １５０ 人 前後」 と 期待 感. In: Yomiuri Shimbun Online. August 19, 2020, accessed August 20, 2020 (Japanese).
  20. ↑ 国民 、 立憲 と 合流 へ 9 月 に も 新 党 結成 、 150 人 前後 か. In: Asahi Shimbun Digital. August 19, 2020, accessed August 20, 2020 (Japanese).
  21. ↑ Japan's DPP approves CDP merger as snap poll speculation grows. In: The Japan Times . August 19, 2020, accessed on August 20, 2020 .