New Party Sakigake

The New Party Sakigake (新党さきがけ Shintō Sakigake), also known as the New Harbinger Party, was a political party in Japan that broke away from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on 22 June 1993.[6] The party was created by Masayoshi Takemura. The party was centrist, and had many reformist and even moderate ecological elements. The theoretical leader was Shusei Tanaka. Yukio Hatoyama and Naoto Kan also took part but later moved to the Democratic Party of Japan.

New Party Sakigake
新党さきがけ

Shintō Sakigake
LeaderMasayoshi Takemura[1][2]
Founded22 June 1993[2]
Dissolved22 June 2004
Split fromLiberal Democratic Party[2]
(liberal-conservative faction)[3]
Merged intoDemocratic Party[2]
IdeologyShitsujitsu kokka (ja)[lower-alpha 1][1]
Environmentalism[1]
Reformism[1]
Conservative liberalism[2]
Political positionCentre-right

History

After the 1993 general election, Sakigake joined a Cabinet led by Morihiro Hosokawa. It was the first government without the LDP since 1955. Sakigake's Masayoshi Takemura became Minister. Sakigake supported the following Tsutomu Hata Cabinet, but didn't join the Cabinet.

In 1994, New Party Sakigake took part in the government of Murayama Tomiichi, a government coalition of the LDP and the Japan Socialist Party, which replaced the coalition government headed the previous year by the Japan Renewal Party.

In September 1996, Sakigake and Japan Socialist Party politicians who did not support their respective parties alliances with the LDP broke away to found the Democratic Party of Japan.[7]

The exodus of these liberal members moved the party further to the right. In 1997, the New Party Sakigake had two members in the House of Representatives and three members in the House of Councillors, which was good for them, especially after the LDP became the ruling party again. However, it decided to moderate its stance, and, because of the power of the ecologist and reformist factions, the conservatives decided to reform the party. As part of the ruling coalition in 1998, it had 2 seats in the House of Representatives and 3 in the House of Councillors. In October 1998, the party reformed itself with a more conservative image, dropping the 'New' from its title to become simply the Sakigake Party.

Its popularity heavily declined after that, and by 2001, the party had no seats in either the Lower or Upper House. In 2002, the ecologists took control, and turned the party into an ecologist party. It changed its name to Midori no kaigi, the Environmental Green Political Assembly, which, because it won no seats in the 2004 Parliamentary elections, dissolved itself on 22 June 2004.

The party gained its followers mainly from white collar bureaucrats and ecologists. It was a conservative reformist party with ecological elements.

List of leaders of NPS
No. Name Term of office
Took Office Left Office
Split from: Liberal Democratic Party
1 Masayoshi Takemura 18 June 1993 30 August 1996
2 Shōichi Ide 30 August 1996 22 October 1996
— Akiko Dōmoto 22 October 1996 6 May 1998
3 Masayoshi Takemura 6 May 1998 3 July 2000
4 Atsuo Nakamura 3 July 2000 16 January 2002

Election results

General election results
Election year Candidates # of seats won Change Status
1993 16
13 / 511
 Government
1996 15
2 / 500
 11 Non-cabinet affiliated
2000 12
0 / 480
 2 Opposition

Councillors election results
Election year Seats Status
Total Contested
1995
3 / 252
3 / 126
 Government
1998
3 / 252
0 / 126
 Opposition
2001
1 / 247
0 / 126
 Opposition

See also

Notes
  1. Shitsujitsu kokka (a nation of quality and substance)[4] is a political ideal of the New Party Sakigake.[1] According to Shusei Tanaka's remark, it means aiming for high-quality and substantive nation-building.[5]

References
  1. Hashimoto, Goro. 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)の解説 [The Nihon Dai Hyakka Zensho: Nipponica 's explanation]. kotobank.jp (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun Company. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  2. ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典の解説 [The Encyclopædia Britannica: Micropædia 's explanation]. kotobank.jp (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun Company. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  3. William D. Hoover, ed. (2011). Historical Dictionary of Postwar Japan. Scarecrow Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-8108-7539-5.
  4. Metzger-Court, Sarah; Pascha, Werner (2016). Japan's Socio-Economic Evolution: Continuity and Change. Routledge. p. 178. ISBN 978-1138973732. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  5. Tanaka, Shusei (July 12, 2019). 今も生きる新党さきがけの五つの理念 [The five ideas of the New Party Sakigake that still alive]. webronza.asahi.com (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. p. 3. Retrieved July 23, 2020. 質の高い、実（じつ）のある国づくりを目指すという言うことだ。
  6. Holler, Manfred Joseph (2002). Power and Fairness. Mohr Siebeck. p. 304. ISBN 3-16-147729-4.
  7. 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.
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