# Democratic Party For the People

The Democratic Party For the People (国民民主党, Kokumin Minshu-tō), abbreviated to DPFP or DPP, is a centre to centre-right, conservative and populist political party in Japan. The party was formed on 7 May 2018 from the merger of the Democratic Party and Kibō no Tō (Party of Hope). In September 2020, the majority of the party reached an agreement to merge with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the original party was officially dissolved on 11 September 2020. However, 14 DPFP members refused to merge, including party leader Yuichiro Tamaki, and instead formed a new party retaining the DPFP name and branding.
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.

## History

On 28 September 2017, Democratic Party (DP) leader Seiji Maehara announced that the party had abandoned plans to contest the 2017 general election, with the party's sitting representatives contesting the election as candidates for the Kibō no Tō recently founded by former Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, or as independents. On 23 October 2017, after the election, Maehara resigned as party president, with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) having replaced the DP as the largest opposition party in the House of Representatives, while the existing DP caucus continued to exist in the House of Councillors.
In January 2018, the DP and the Kibō no Tō agreed to form a joint parliamentary group in both houses of the Diet, although days later the negotiations broke down. On 9 April 2018, it was announced that talks were ongoing to merge the two parties into a new opposition force. 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. The DP and Kibō no Tō on 7 May 2018, 62 members of the predecessor parties joined the DPFP at its formation. 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.
The party held a leadership election in September 2018 to choose a permanent leader. Interim co-leader Tamaki was elected as the permanent leader of the party.
In April 2019, the Liberal Party merged into the Democratic Party For the People.

### 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. Both parties would officially be dissolved under the agreement. 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. 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. 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.
During the course of the 2022 Japanese House of Councillors election, the party was described as "cozying up" to the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

### Split and criticism

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.
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.

## Ideology

A self-proclaimed "reformist centrist" party, 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. 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.
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.
The DPFP officially promoted diplomatic pacifism, constitutionalism and sustainable development.

## Leadership

| Position | Name |
| Leader | Yuichiro Tamaki |
| Deputy Leader | Motohisa Furukawa |
| Secretary General | Kazuya Shimba |
| Deputy Secretary General | Takanori Kawai |
| Chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee | Motohisa Furukawa |
| Chairman of the Policy Affairs Research Council | Makoto Hamaguchi |
| Chairman of the Election Campaign Committee | Yoshifumi Hamano |
| Chairman in the House of Councillors | Yasue Funayama |
| Public Relations Director | Tetsuji Isozaki |
| Source: ||

## Leaders

| No. | Name | Constituency / title | Term of office | Term of office | Image | Election results | Prime Minister (term) | Prime Minister (term) |
| No. | Name | Constituency / title | Took office | Left office | Image | Election results | Prime Minister (term) | Prime Minister (term) |
| Preceding parties: Democratic Party (2016) (centre), Kibō no Tō (centre-right), and Liberal Party (2016) (centre-left) |||||||||
| 1 | Co-leadership Kohei Otsuka (born 1959) Yuichiro Tamaki (born 1969) | Otsuka: Cou for Aichi Tamaki: Rep for Kagawa 2nd | 7 May 2018 | 4 September 2018 | | DP; 2017 Unopposed Kibō; 2017 Unopposed | | Abe S. 2012–20 |
| 2 | Yuichiro Tamaki (born 1969) | Rep for Kagawa 2nd | 4 September 2018 | 11 September 2020 | | 2018 Yuichiro Tamaki – 204 Keisuke Tsumura – 74 | | Abe S. 2012–20 |
| Successor parties: Constitutional Democratic Party (centre-left) and Democratic Party For the People (centre-right) |||||||||
| 1 | Yuichiro Tamaki (born 1969) | Rep for Kagawa 2nd | 11 September 2020 | Incumbent | | 2020 Yuichiro Tamaki – 65 Takae Ito – 262023 Yuichiro Tamaki – 80 Seiji Maehara – 31 | | Abe S. 2012–20 |
| 1 | Yuichiro Tamaki (born 1969) | Rep for Kagawa 2nd | 11 September 2020 | Incumbent | | 2020 Yuichiro Tamaki – 65 Takae Ito – 262023 Yuichiro Tamaki – 80 Seiji Maehara – 31 | | Suga 2020–2021 |
| 1 | Yuichiro Tamaki (born 1969) | Rep for Kagawa 2nd | 11 September 2020 | Incumbent | | 2020 Yuichiro Tamaki – 65 Takae Ito – 262023 Yuichiro Tamaki – 80 Seiji Maehara – 31 | | Kishida 2021–2024 |
| 1 | Yuichiro Tamaki (born 1969) | Rep for Kagawa 2nd | 11 September 2020 | Incumbent | | 2020 Yuichiro Tamaki – 65 Takae Ito – 262023 Yuichiro Tamaki – 80 Seiji Maehara – 31 | | Ishiba 2024–present |
| — | Motohisa Furukawa (born 1965) Acting | Rep for Aichi 2nd | 4 December 2024 | Incumbent | | | | Ishiba 2024–present |
* ↑ Tamaki was suspended from his leadership position by the DPFP on 4 December 2024 for three months following the revelation of an extramarital affair.