Liberal Party (Japan, 1998)
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The Liberal Party (自由党 Jiyū-tō?) was a former Japanese and liberal party formed in 1998 by Ichirō Ozawa and Hirohisa Fujii. It is now defunct, having joined the Democratic Party of Japan in 2003.
The Liberal Party was formed from remnants of the New Frontier Party after it dissolved in 1998. The party did do quite well for a new party, joining the opposition led by the Democratic Party of Japan and also including the Social Democratic Party and Japanese Communist Party, and thus helped contest elections against the ruling Liberal Democrats and the New Clean Government Party, as well as The Sakigake Party/Midori no Kaigi and the Conservative Party of Japan/New Conservative Party in the ruling coalition. It won quite a few seats for the opposition until it gradually lost popularity to the more moderate Democrat Party, along with the Social Democrats.
In October 2003, because of the upcoming election, the Liberal Party finally merged with the more moderate social-democratic and liberal Democratic Party of Japan and all its members joined the new party, making an influential grouping within the party. The Democrat Party did tremendously well, and Hirohisa Fujii became the Secretary General of the Democrat Party, while Ichiro Ozawa led the Liberal Party Group within the DPJ.
