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Democratic Party of Japan 民主党 Minshutō
President	Naoto Kan
Chief Secretary	Yukio Hatoyama
Founders	Naoto Kan Yukio Hatoyama
Founded	29 September 1996
Dissolved	27 April 1998
Split from	New Party Sakigake Social Democratic Party of Japan
Merged into	Democratic Party of Japan
Ideology	Liberalism
Political position	Centre to centre-left
Politics of Japan Political parties Elections

The Democratic Party of Japan (民主党, Minshutō) was a centrist political party in Japan, and one of the forerunners to the Democratic Party of Japan formed in 1998. Its two leading members, Yukio Hatoyama and Naoto Kan, subsequently and sequentially became Prime Ministers at the end of the first decade of the 21st century.

History

The party was founded on 29 September 1996 by sitting members of the Diet, and was composed mostly of former Sakigake and Japan Socialist Party politicians who did not support an alliance with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Its initial leaders were Yukio Hatoyama and Naoto Kan, formerly members of Sakigake. At its formation, it had 39 parliamentarians.

The party won 52 seats in the 1996 general election, becoming the second-largest opposition party after the New Frontier Party.

In April 1998, the party was augmented by former members of the New Frontier Party, which had collapsed in December 1997, increasing it to 90 seats. It then merged with the Good Governance Party (Minseitō), New Fraternity Party and Democratic Reform Party to create Democratic Party of Japan.

Presidents of DPJ

No.	Name	Photo	Took office	Left office
Preceding party: New Party Sakigake & Social Democratic Party
1	Co-leadership Naoto Kan & Yukio Hatoyama		26 September 1996	16 September 1997
2	Naoto Kan		16 September 1997	27 April 1998
Successor party: Democratic Party (1998)

Election results

House of Representatives

References

1. Eiji Takemae (2003). Allied Occupation of Japan. Continuum. p. 540. ISBN 978-0-8264-1521-9.
2. Glenn D. Hook; Julie Gilson; Christopher W. Hughes; Hugo Dobson (2013). Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economics and Security. Routledge. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-134-32806-2.
3. "Japan's fractured opposition unites as Suga set to succeed Shinzo Abe as prime minister". CNBC.com. CNBC. Reuters. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2021. The centrist Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), founded in 1996, has long struggled with internal dissent.
4. Patrick Koellner (2011). "The Democratic Party of Japan: Development, organization, and programmatic profile". In Alisa Gaunder (ed.). Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-136-81838-7.
5. Gerald L. Curtis (2013). The Logic of Japanese Politics: Leaders, Institutions, and the Limits of Change. Columbia University Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-231-50254-2.
6. ^ James Arthur Ainscow Stockwin (2003). Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Japan. Routledge. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-136-89488-6.
7. Robert W. Aspinall (2001). Teachers' Unions and the Politics of Education in Japan. SUNY Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-7914-5050-5.

• Centrist parties in Japan
• Centre-left parties in Asia
• Defunct liberal political parties
• Defunct political parties in Japan
• Liberal parties in Japan
• Political parties disestablished in 1998
• Political parties established in 1996
• 1996 establishments in Japan
• 1998 disestablishments in Japan