| Liberal Party 自由党 Jiyūtō |
|
|---|---|
| President | Ichiro Ozawa |
| Secretary general | Takeshi Noda |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Dissolved | 2003 (merged into Democratic Party of Japan) |
| Ideology | Social liberalism, centrism |
| International affiliation | Liberal International |
| Official colours | Blue (informally) |
| Councillors | 12 (as of 1998) |
| Representatives | 42 (as of 1998) |
| Politics of Japan Political parties Elections |
|
The Liberal Party (自由党 Jiyū-tō) was a Japanese liberal party (not to be confused with the conservative Liberal Democratic Party) 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 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 and also including the New Clean Government Party (New Kōmeitō), the Social Democratic Party and Japanese Communist Party, and thus helped contest elections against the ruling Liberal Democrats (LDP).
In January 1999, it formed a coalition with the ruling LDP under Keizō Obuchi.[1] 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 Liberals back into the opposition as he saw his party's position endangered.[2] But some members of the coalition wanted to stay in the government and eventually formed the breakaway Conservative Party.[3]
In October 2003, because of the upcoming election, the Liberal Party finally merged with the more moderate social-democratic and liberal Democratic Party of Japan[4] and all its members joined the new party, making an influential grouping within the party. The Democrat Party did tremendously well, and Hirohisa Fujii became the Secretary General of the Democrat Party, while Ichiro Ozawa led the Liberal Party Group within the DPJ.