Minseitō

The Minseitō ( Japanese 民政党 , Minseitō ) was a political party of Japan of only a short life in 1998. It was a centrist , reformist party that merged with other parties to the Democratic Party of Japan in the year of its formation in April 1998 .

The name was borrowed from a pre-war party Rikken Minseitō , which existed from 1927 to 1940.

history

The party emerged from several smaller reformist groups that arose from the collapse of the coalition party Shinshinto in 1996:

• the Taiyōtō ( 太陽 党 , Taiyōtō or Sun Party ), under the direction of Hata Tsutomu ,
• the Kokumin no Koe ( 国民 の 声 , voice of the people ) under Kano Michihiko ,
• an independent group known as From Five ( フ ロ ム フ ァ イ ブ , Furomu Faibu ) under Hosokawa Morihiro .

Shortly after their unification in January 1998, the party united with the Democratic Party of Japan from 1996 ( 民主党 , Minshutō ), the Party of the New Brotherhood ( 新 党 友愛 , Shintō Yūai ) and the Democratic Reform Party ( 民主改革 連 合 , Minshu Kaikaku Rengō ) too a new Democratic Party of Japan.

Hata, Kano and Hosokawa played an important role in the party's development into the main opposition party in Japan.