Liberal Democratic Party
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) (自由民主党) is a political party in Japan.
Contents
Platform
The LDP is a center-right party. One motivation for it's founding was to counter the JSP. Some factions within the party are notably nationalist or revanchist.
However, it has effectively been a factional big tent party for most of modern Japanese democracy. There are few coherent policies that actually constitute a party-wide platform.
History
Formation
The LDP formed in 1955 as a merger between the Liberal Party (自由党) and the Japan Democratic Party (日本民主党).
LDP politicians made extensive use of koenkai (後援会) for campaign finance and voter mobilization. LDP leadership would attempt to subsume these organizations multiple times, but early attempts failed due to factionalism. Over time koenkai became vertically-integrated political machines, especially within the LDP.
Government
The Japan Socialist Party served as the opposition throughout.
First Loss of Power
In the 1993 elections, in the context of the stagflating economy and the Recruit scandal, the LDP lost enough seats for a grand coalition government to form. Hosokawa led this government for 8 months, following which Hata led for 2 months.
The government fell in June when the LDP, JSP, and New Party Sakigake joined to form a new coalition. Murayama served as prime minister for 2 years, then handed power back to the LDP under Hashimoto. The coalition then devolved into a confidence and supply agreement.
The remaining grand coalition members consolidated into the New Frontier Party and served as the opposition.
Hashimoto hoped to regain control of the House of Councilors as well in the 1998 elections. Instead the LDP lost seats, and Hashimoto resigned.
First Return to Power
Obuchi formed a coalition government with the Liberal Party in January 1999. In October, Komeito joined as well. Obuchi died in office and Mori became prime minister.
The Mori government was plagued by scandals while a reformist faction was ascendent within the party. The YKK faction, composed of Koizumi, Koichi Kato (加藤 紘一), and Taku Yamasaki (山崎 拓), were serious contenders in the leadership contests of 1999 and 2000. The latter two gambled on a doomed vote of no confidence, but Koizumi was well positioned for the leadership contest following Mori's resignation.
Koizumi ushered in a new era of popularity for the LDP, and resigned at the end of his party leadership term.
Abe became prime minister after Koizumi. In the context of deteriorating health and losing the majority in the 2007 elections, he resigned in September.
Second Loss of Power
Second Return to Power