The , also known as the New Harbinger Party, was a political party in Japan that broke away from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on 22 June 1993. The party was created by Masayoshi Takemura. The party was centrist, and had many reformist and even moderate ecological elements. The theoretical leader was Shusei Tanaka. Yukio Hatoyama and Naoto Kan also took part but later moved to the Democratic Party of Japan.
History After the 1993 general election, Sakigake joined a Cabinet led by Morihiro Hosokawa. It was the first government without the LDP since 1955. Sakigake's Masayoshi Takemura became Minister. Sakigake supported the following Tsutomu Hata Cabinet, but didn't join the Cabinet.
In 1994, New Party Sakigake took part in the government of Murayama Tomiichi, a government coalition of the LDP and the Japan Socialist Party, which replaced the coalition government headed the previous year by the Japan Renewal Party.
In September 1996, Sakigake and Japan Socialist Party politicians who did not support their respective parties alliances with the LDP broke away to found the Democratic Party of Japan.
The exodus of these liberal members moved the party further to the right. In 1997, the New Party Sakigake had two members in the House of Representatives and three members in the House of Councillors, which was good for them, especially after the LDP became the ruling party again. However, it decided to moderate its stance, and, because of the power of the ecologist and reformist factions, the conservatives decided to reform the party. As part of the ruling coalition in 1998, it had 2 seats in the House of Representatives and 3 in the House of Councillors. In October 1998, the party reformed itself with a more conservative image, dropping the 'New' from its title to become simply the Sakigake Party.
Its popularity heavily declined after that, and by 2001, the party had no seats in either the Lower or Upper House. In 2002, the ecologists took control, and turned the party into an ecologist party. It changed its name to , the Environmental Green Political Assembly, which, because it won no seats in the 2004 Parliamentary elections, dissolved itself on 31 October 2004.
The party gained its followers mainly from white collar bureaucrats and ecologists. It was a conservative reformist party with ecological elements.
Leaders No.NamePotraitConstituency / titleTerm of officeTook officeLeft officeSplit from: Liberal Democratic Party 1Masayoshi Takemura(1934–2022)Rep for Shiga 2nd18 June 199330 August 19962Shōici Ide(1939–2018)Rep for Nagano 2nd30 August 199622 October 1996–Akiko Dōmoto(born 1932)Cou for National PR30 August 199622 October 19963(1) Masayoshi Takemura(1934–2022)Rep for Shiga 2nd6 May 19983 July 20004Atsuo Nakamura(born 1940)Cou for Tokyo at-large3 July 200016 January 2002
Election results
House of Representatives
+ House of Representatives Election Leader Seats Position Constituency votes block votes Status ± Share Share 1993 16 8th 1,658,097 2.64% 1996 15 11 6th 727,644 1.29% 582,093 1.05% 2000 12 2
House of Councillors
+ House of Councillors Election Seats Status Total Contested 1995 1998 2001
See also
Politics of Japan List of political parties in Japan Timeline of liberal parties in Japan
Notes
References
External links Archive.org copy of former website