Kenseitō

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Kenseitō (Constitutional Party) (憲政党, Keiseitō ^?) was a political party in Meiji period Japan.

The Kenseitō was founded in June 1898, as a merger of the Shimpotō headed by Ōkuma Shigenobu and the Jiyūtō led by Itagaki Taisuke, with Ōkuma as party president. After the collapse of the Itō administration, Ōkuma became Prime Minister of Japan, and in the following election, the Kenseitō won a majority of seats in the lower house of the Diet.

However, members of the former Jiyūtō felt that Ōkuma did not distribute the cabinet seats in fair proportion to their party, and joined with Yamagata Aritomo and other conservative elements in the Diet to criticize Minister of Education Ozaki Yukio for a speech which they felt promoted republicanism. Following Ozaki’s resignation, the former Jiyūtō faction continued to attack the government until Ōkuma's cabinet disintegrated.

The former Jiyūtō faction reorganized itself into the 'New Kenseitō' in November 1898 with Itagaki as its president. The ‘New Kenseitō” joined Itō Hirobumi’s Rikken Seiyūkai in 1900.

The remaining party members still loyal to Ōkuma reorganized themselves into the 'Kensei Hontō' (True Kenseitō) in November 1898. However, 34 party members defected in 1901 over Ōkuma’s support for the 4th Itō administration’s efforts to raise taxes to pay for expenses incurred in the Boxer Rebellion.

In 1903, the Kensei Hontō and Rikken Seiyūkai joined forces to oppose the first Katsura Tarō administration. In 1907, Ōkuma resigned as president, and in the elections of 1909, the Kensei Hontō won only 65 seats in the Diet, as opposed to the Rikken Seiyūkai’s 204.

The Kensei Hontō merged with smaller parties to form the Rikken Kokumintō in March 1910.