Liberal Party (Japan, 1890) saw the party reduced to 107 seats. In April 1896 it joined Itō Hirobumi's government and Liberal leader Itagaki Taisuke was appointed Minister of Home Affairs. After losing another two seats in the March 1898 elections, the party merged with Shimpotō in June 1898 to form the Kenseitō. Liberal Party (Japan, 1890) The Liberal Party (, "Jiyūtō") was a political party in Japan. The party was established in August 1890 by 130 members of the House of Representatives who had been elected in July, and was initially named the Constitutional Liberal Party (立憲自由党, "Rikken Jiyūtō"). It was a merger of
Social Democratic Party (Japan) 1996. Most of the other parties from the anti-LDP coalition forced back into opposition, united to form the New Frontier Party, overtaking the JSP as second largest political party in Japan. In the 1995 election, the JSP lost the election. In January 1996, the New Socialist Party split off, Murayama resigned as Prime Minister, and the JSP changed its name from the Japan Socialist Party to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as an interim party for forming a new party. However, a movement for transforming the SDP into a new "social-democratic and liberal" party was unsuccessful. Under Murayama's successor Ryūtarō