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The party saw its best electoral success to date in the 2024 general election, in which it won 28 seats in the House of Representatives, becoming the fourth-largest party in the chamber. Since the 2024 election the party has entered into negotiations to support the LDP-Komeito minority government on a policy-by-policy basis.[20]
In January 2018, the DP and the Kibō no Tō agreed to form a joint parliamentary group in both houses of the Diet,[27] although days later the negotiations broke down.[28] On 9 April 2018, it was announced that talks were ongoing to merge the two parties into a new opposition force.[29] On 24 April 2018, at a joint press conference the leadership of the DP and the Kibō no Tō announced that both parties had agreed to merge in May 2018 as the National Democratic Party.[30] The DP and Kibō no Tō on 7 May 2018,[21] 62 members of the predecessor parties joined the DPFP at its formation.[31] adopting Democratic Party For the People as their official English language title. DP leader Kōhei Ōtsuka and Kibō leader Yūichirō Tamaki became the interim co-leaders of the new party.
In April 2019, the Liberal Party merged into the Democratic Party For the People.[33]
Partial merger with CDPJ
On 19 August 2020, the DPFP announced that a majority of its members would merge in September of that year with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and some independent lawmakers.[34] Both parties would officially be dissolved under the agreement.[24] On 10 September 2020, the new party elected Yukio Edano of the CDPJ as its leader and voted to retain the CDPJ party name. The DPFP dissolved on 11 September 2020, the day after the leader of the merged party was elected.[18] However, 14 members of the DPFP, led by Tamaki, refused to merge with the CDPJ, instead creating a new party which retained the DPFP name and branding.[35] The Tamaki-led rump DPFP contested the 2021 Japanese general election independently of the CDPJ and allies, winning six single-district seats and five proportional seats.[17]
Four of the party's members of the House of Representatives and one of its members of the House of Councillors split from the party to form Free Education for All in November 2023. This was due to criticism that the Democratic Party For the People is aligned with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), such as via the DPFP cooperating with the LDP on legislation and the DPFP supporting the LDP's supplementary budget for the fiscal year 2024.[37][38][39]
Party leader Yuichiro Tamaki has been described as "indecisive" on the choice of either joining the government fully or staying in the opposition. As an example, the DPFP has often times joined in negotiations with the government to raise wages and has often-times attacked other opposition parties, such as the Japanese Communist Party and the CDP at times, but has also proven to be open to cooperation, witnessed in it pulling its candidates shortly before the April by-elections in three House of Representative wards. Such indecisiveness has been described as a possible reason for Deputy Leader Kohei Otsuka leaving the party.[40]
Ideology
A self-proclaimed "reformistcentrist" party,[41] it enumerated freedom, symbiosis and responsibility for the future in its basic philosophy and self-proclaimed the establishment of a "Reformist-Centrist Party" (改革中道政党, Kaikaku-chūdō seitō) based on these philosophies.[41] Otsuka said that the term "Reformist-Centrist Party" describes the attitude and spirit of the DPP that thoroughly adheres to a democratic approach to realistically reform/solve various issues.[42]
The DPFP defines it as "a reform centrist party led by people ranging from moderate-conservatives and liberals". However, unlike the old DPFP, the new DPFP is considered conservative.[17]
^国民民主党のロゴを発表 [Announced the DPFP logotype.]. dpfp.or.jp (in Japanese). Democratic Party For the People. May 21, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
^新・国民民主党 - つくろう、新しい答え。 [New Democratic Party For the People - Let's create a new answer.]. new-kokumin.jp (in Japanese). 9 May 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
^ abcd"議員". Democratic Party For the People Official Website. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
