New Party Sakigake
New Party Sakigake (新党さきがけ) was a centrist and reformist party that operated between 1993 and 2001.
Contents
History
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.
In 1994, the party joined a coalition government with the LDP and Japan Socialist Party. While the JSP took power under Tomiichi Murayama, the coalition was fundamentally unpopular with both of the LDP's pertners. When the LDP took control of the coalition under Ryuutarou Hashimoto, this only worsened. In 1996 the coalition devolved to a supply-and-confidence agreement, and then was dropped entirely.
With just 5 seats in the Diet, the party attempted to attract voters by rebranding in 1998. The party platform shifted towards conservatism and "New" was dropped from the name.
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.