Liberal Party (Japan, 1998)

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox political party Template:Liberalism in Japan The Template:Nihongo was a political party in Japan formed in 1998 by Ichirō Ozawa and Hirohisa Fujii. It is now defunct, having joined the Democratic Party of Japan in 2003.

The Liberal Party were part of the Japanese liberal parties genealogy, neoliberal<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and neoconservative.Template:Cn

History

The Liberal Party was formed from remnants of the New Frontier Party after it dissolved in 1998. The party did do quite well for a new party, joining the opposition led by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and also including the New Kōmeitō, the Social Democratic Party and Japanese Communist Party, and thus helped contest elections against the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

In January 1999, it formed a coalition with the ruling LDP under Keizō Obuchi.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Takeshi Noda as Minister for Home Affairs became its only member in the realigned Obuchi cabinet, later replaced by Toshihiro Nikai as Minister of Transportation. Later that year, the New Kōmeitō joined the coalition as well, and party president Ichirō Ozawa decided to lead the Liberal Party back into the opposition as he saw his party's position endangered.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, some members of the coalition wanted to stay in the government and eventually formed the breakaway New Conservative Party.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In October 2003, because of the upcoming election, the Liberal Party finally merged with the DPJ<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and all its members joined the new party, making an influential grouping within the party. The DPJ did tremendously well, and Hirohisa Fujii became the Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Japan, while Ichiro Ozawa led the Liberal Party faction within the DPJ. In 2016, the name was revived by Ozawa, on his renaming of the People's Life Party to the Liberal Party.

Presidents of LP

No.	Name	Image	Term of office
			Took office	Left office
Preceding party: New Frontier Party
1	Ichirō Ozawa		1 January 1998	26 September 2003
Successor party: Democratic Party (1998)

Election results

House of Representatives

Election	Leader	Constituency			Party list			Total	Position	Status
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
2000	Ichirō Ozawa	2,053,736	3.37	Template:Composition bar	6,589,490	11.01	Template:Composition bar	Template:Composition bar	5th	Template:No2

House of Councillors

Election	Leader	Constituency				Party list				Seats				Position	Status
		Votes	%	Seats	+/-	Votes	%	Seats	+/-	Election	+/-	Total	+/-
1998	Ichirō Ozawa	980,249	1.75	Template:Composition bar	new	5,207,813	9.28	Template:Composition bar	new	Template:Composition bar	new	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 6	5th	Template:No2
2001		3,011,787	5.54	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 1	4,227,148	7.72	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 4	5th	Template:No2