Liberal Party (Japan, 1998-2003)

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The Liberal Party ( Japanese 自由 党 , Jiyū-tō ) was a political party in Japan . It was founded on January 6, 1998 by Ichirō Ozawa and assembled parts of the recently dissolved New Progress Party .

In the upper house elections in July 1998 , six of its candidates were elected, leaving the Liberal Party just behind the Social Democrats with twelve seats . At first she worked in the opposition with the Democratic Party . In January 1999, however, she entered a government coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi , which did not have a majority in the upper house and was dependent on votes from independents. After the re-established Kōmeitō had entered the coalition in October , Ozawa saw the profile of the Liberal Party in jeopardy over time and left the coalition in April 2000. Some members around Secretary General Takeshi Noda wanted to continue the cooperation and left the Liberal Party to found the Conservative Party ( 保守党 , Hoshutō ), which remained in the coalition.

In the general election in June 2000 , the Liberal Party was the second largest opposition party with 22 seats, but lagged significantly behind the Democratic Party (with 127 of the 480 seats). In the upper house election the following year , she was able to defend her six seats. The Liberal Party had established itself in the party landscape; nevertheless, Ozawa decided in September 2003 to join the Democratic Party with his supporters to bundle the opposition to the LDP, which had been strengthened under Jun'ichirō Koizumi . In the new party, the former Liberal organize in the faction of Isshinkai ( 一新会 ).

The Liberal Party had observer status in the Liberal International .

Other leaders of the Liberal Party

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