New Party Sakigake
New Party Sakigake (新党さきがけ) was a centrist and reformist party that broke from the LDP in 1993. They
Formation
Masayoshi Takemura (武村 正義) left the LDP in 1993 to form a new party. The New Party Sakigake participated in the grand coalition government and, although a junior member by far, Takemura was appointed to the cabinet.
LDP Coalition
In 1994 the party joined a coalition government with the LDP and JSP.
The LDP-led coalition was not universally popular among the members of the junior parties. In 1996 members of both parties left to form the DPJ.
Decline and Dissolution
With just 5 seats in the Diet, the party attempted to attract attention with a 1998 rebranding; the platform shifted right and the name dropped "New".
By 2001 the party held no seats, and ecologists briefly hijacked the defunct party. It reformed again as Environmental Green Political Assembly (みどりの会議) before formally dissolving in 2004.