Democratic Liberal Party (Japan)

The Democratic Liberal Party (民主自由党, Minshu-jiyūtō) was a political party in Japan.

Democratic Liberal Party
民主自由党
Minshu-jiyūtō
LeaderShigeru Yoshida
Founded15 March 1948[1]
Dissolved1 March 1950[2]
Merger ofLiberal Party[3]
Minshu Club[3]
Merged intoLiberal Party[3]
HeadquartersTokyo
IdeologyConservatism[3]

History edit

The party was established in March 1948 as a merger of the Liberal Party, Dōshi Club and a faction of the Democratic Party led by Saitō Takao.[4] United by their opposition to the coal nationalisation law, the new party had 152 MPs and 46 members of the House of Councillors.[4]

As a result of the DLP's attempts to block Yamazaki Takeshi from forming a new government after Hitoshi Ashida resigned as Prime Minister, the party's Shigeru Yoshida became Prime Minister in October 1948 and early elections were called in January 1949.[4] The DLP won a landslide victory, taking 269 of the 466 seats, the first time a party had held a majority of seats since World War II.[4] Shigeru Yoshida continued as Prime Minister.

In March 1950 the party merged with the Alliance faction of the Democratic Party to form the new Liberal Party.[5]

Leader edit

# Name Portrait From To
1 Shigeru Yoshida   15 March 1948 1 March 1950

Election results edit

House of Representatives edit

Election Leader Votes % Seats Position Status
1949 Shigeru Yoshida 13,420,269 43.87
264 / 466
1st Government

References edit

  1. ^ Uno, Shun'ichi [in Japanese] (1991). Nihon zenshi = Japan chronik (in Japanese). Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd. p. 1094. ISBN 4-06-203994-X.
  2. ^ Uno 1991, p. 1098.
  3. ^ a b c d Yoshida, Kenji. "Minshu-jiyūtō towa" 民主自由党(ミンシュジユウトウ)とは. kotobank.jp (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun Company. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d Haruhiro Fukui (1985) Political parties of Asia and the Pacific, Greenwood Press, pp481–482
  5. ^ Fukui, p568