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Japan Other Parties and Independents
Like the Democratic Socialist Party, the tiny Social
Democratic
Alliance was formed, in 1978, by defectors from the Japan
Socialist
Party. A non-Marxist party in the social democratic
tradition, it
won four seats in the February 1990 general election and
retained
these seats in the July 1993 election. The Shinseito was
founded in
June 1993 by former finance minister Hata Tsutomu and
former LDP
secretary general Ozawa Ichiro. Made up mainly of LDP
defectors,
Shinseito gained 55 seats in the July 1993 election and is
a major
element of the Hosokawa coalition. The party tends to be
conservative on foreign and defense policy issues. The
Sakigake
also was formed by LDP defectors in June 1993. It gained
thirteen
seats in the July 1993 election. Led by Takemura Masayoshi
and
Sonoda Hiroyuki, it also joined the Hosokawa coalition.
Although
it, like the Shinseito, was described as a center-right
reformist
party, members of the Sakigake were "wary of the strength"
of the
Shinseito, especially the Ozawa faction. The Japan New
Party, led
by Prime Minister Hosokawa Morihiro, was formed in May
1992 by
former members of the LDP disgusted with LDP policies and
concerned
with prompting political reform. The thirty-five members
of the
House of Representatives that it elected in the July 1993
election
are part of the Hosokawa coalition.
A relatively large number of candidates ran as
independents in
general elections. Thirty of them were elected in the July
1993
balloting, but the majority later affiliated themselves
with other
parties. In August 1993, eight seats in the House of
Representatives were listed as independent, five were
affiliated
with the LDP, and three with the Hosokawa coalition.
Data as of January 1994
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