The Democratic Party of Japan and the Japan Innovation Party, which have been in talks to form a new party, have largely agreed to merge next month.
The JIP will dissolve itself and be absorbed by the main opposition DPJ, according to sources. The DPJ will change its name.
The two parties decided to merge after judging it necessary to consolidate opposition forces to counter the ruling parties ahead of the House of Councillors election this summer.
According to the sources, DPJ leader Katsuya Okada and his JIP counterpart Yorihisa Matsuno agreed to seek the merger during their talks on Monday night.
The two parties are now making arrangements to formally agree on the merger during a meeting between the two leaders after the parties examine the merger plan.
The leadership of the two parties will soon establish a tentatively named “New party preparation council,” which will discuss a new party platform and basic policies.
While the JIP will be dissolved, all DPJ members but one will leave the party and join a renamed party. This aims to emphasize the renewal of the DPJ.
This method was similar to the one used when parties including Minseito (Good Governance Party) and Shinto Yuai (Amity Party) were dissolved and merged into the old DPJ to create the current DPJ in 1998.
There is a gap between the DPJ and the JIP over a new name for the new party, with the JIP demanding a major change and the DPJ seeking to maintain “democratic” in the name.
The new party preparation council plans to select several ideas for the new name and choose one based on an opinion survey and by a vote by supporters of the two parties.
On Tuesday morning, Okada met with DPJ senior officials, including Secretary General Yukio Edano, and told them, “We will form a new party in March.” He also expressed his intention to discuss a new name for the party.
Matsuno, meanwhile, sought approval for the merger plan at the party’s executive meeting on Tuesday morning, saying, “I want to ask the party to examine a plan to create a new party with a completely new name.”
Five JIP upper house members, who were members of the now-defunct Your Party, cannot become DPJ members due to Diet Law regulations banning those who were elected in the proportional representation section from transferring to parties they competed against in their election. Those lawmakers will likely become independent for the time being.
Of the five, four lawmakers whose seats will be contested in this summer’s upper house election may quit before the election and run on the DPJ ticket.
However, some JIP lawmakers, who were members of Your Party, including former Your Party leader Kenji Eda, are strongly demanding that both the DPJ and the JIP be dissolved to form a new party.
Matsuno, therefore, may find it difficult to obtain approval for the merger plan, under which the DPJ would absorb the JIP, from the party.
Some observers anticipate the JIP could split again, into members who are in favor of joining the DPJ and others who are not.Speech(The Yomiuri Shimbun)
Link: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002767378
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