People's New Party

The People's New Party (国民新党 Kokumin Shintō, PNP) was a Japanese political party formed on August 17, 2005, in the aftermath of the defeat of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Japan Post privatisation bills which led to a snap election. On March 21, 2013, party leader Shozaburo Jimi announced that he was disbanding the party.

People's New Party
  • Kokumin Shintō
  • 国民新党
PresidentShozaburo Jimi
Secretary generalMikio Shimoji
Councilors LeaderShozaburo Jimi
FounderShizuka Kamei
Founded17 August 2005 (2005-08-17)
Dissolved22 March 2013 (2013-03-22)
HeadquartersKohase Bldg. 3F, Hirakawa-cho 2-14-7, Chiyoda, Tokyo 102-0093
Ideology
Political positionSyncretic
Fiscal: Centre-left
Social: Right-wing
ColoursOrange
Party flag
Website
www.kokumin.or.jp
Headquarters of the People's New Party

History

The Kokumin Shinto, originally headed by Shizuka Kamei, included former lower house speaker Tamisuke Watanuki, former Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lower house members Hisaoki Kamei, Tadahiro Matsushita, and House of Councillors members Kensei Hasegawa from the LDP and Tamura Hideaki from the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the main opposition.

Most of the members of the Kokumin Shinto were formerly members of the Shisuikai (also known as Kamei Faction) of the LDP. Their strong links to the postal lobby forced them to go against Koizumi's plans to privatise the postal system. While Watanuki was made party leader, Kamei was also seen as a public face for the party.

In the 2005 snap election, the party was able to retain four seats, matching the pre-election total, with two single-seat members (Watanuki and Shizuka Kamei) and two proportional members (Hisaoki Kamei and new member Masaki Itokawa). However, the overwhelming victory of the LDP, with a new two-thirds majority in the lower house, made it unlikely that they would be able to exert influence on government policy.

In June 2007, party head Shizuka Kamei announced that former President of Peru Alberto Fujimori would be running for a seat in the House of Councillors under the banner of the People's New Party. At the time of the initial announcement, Fujimori was under house arrest in Chile pending the outcome of an extradition hearing to decide whether he would be returned to Peru to face charges of corruption and human rights violations there. On 11 July 2007 Chilean Judge Orlando Alvarez ruled against the extradition; however, Fujimori remained under house arrest, and was unable to return to Japan for his campaign. He would ultimately fail in his bid.[1][2][3]

After the 2009 general election, on 16 September 2009, a new government was formed; the PNP became a part of the ruling coalition led by the DPJ.[4] After that the party suffered in the next Councillor election and general election.

Ideology

People's New Party was described as having a far-right political position.[5][6] The party was initially almost exclusively defined by its opposition to Koizumi's "dictatorial" (独裁的, dokusaiteki) politics as expressed in the post privatisation debate. Eventually their platform was broadened to include ideals of serving and protecting the people, and engaging in "warm, friendly politics".

Election results

House of Representatives
Election Leader # of seats won # of Constituency votes  % of Constituency vote # of PR Block votes  % of PR Block vote Government/opposition
2005 Tamisuke Watanuki
4 / 480
 432,679 0.64 1,183,073 1.74 Opposition
2009
3 / 480
 730,570 1.04 1,219,767 1.73 DPJ-PNP-SDP Government Coalition (2009-2010)
DPJ-PNP Government Coalition (2010-2012)

House of Councillors
Election Leader # of seats total # of seats won # of National votes  % of National vote # of Prefectural votes  % of Prefectural vote
2007 Tamisuke Watanuki
4 / 242
2 / 121
 1,269,209 2.15 1,111,005 1.87
2010 Shizuka Kamei
3 / 242
0 / 121
 1,000,036 1.71 167,555 0.29

Disbanded

On March 21, 2013, party leader Shozaburo Jimi announced that he was disbanding the party. At that time only Jimi and Kazuyuki Hamada remained as diet representatives.[7]

See also

 Conservatism portal

References
  1. "Fujimori loses Japan election bid". BBC News. 2007-07-29. Retrieved 2008-01-03.
  2. "Prisoner Fujimori to run in Diet poll". The Japan Times. 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  3. Kim, Han-il (2007-07-13). "Odd man out". Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  4. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090916p2a00m0na033000c.html%5B%5D
  5. "CHILE-PERU: Decision to Extradite Fujimori Sets International Precedent". Inter Press Service. 2007-09-21. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
  6. "Millonarios japoneses, al rescate de Fujimori". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 2007-08-11. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
  7. Daily Yomiuri PNP head Jimi disbands 2-member party March 23, 2013
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