The Kenseitō was founded in June 1898, as a merger of the Shimpotō headed by Ōkuma Shigenobu and the Liberal Party (Jiyūtō) led by Itagaki Taisuke, with Ōkuma as party president. The merger gave the new party an overwhelming majority in the Lower House of the Diet of Japan; the two parties had won 208 seats in the March 1898 elections.
The Kenseitō was formed through a merger between two political parties, the Shimpotō and the Liberal Party (Jiyūtō), with Ōkuma Shigenobu as president of the new party. This merger gave the Kenseitō an overwhelming majority in the Lower House of Japan's Diet after winning 208 seats in the March 1898 elections.