Tokyo, Sept. 24 (Jiji Press)–The Democratic Reform Party said Thursday that the new Japanese opposition party has started its activities with 18 member lawmakers who departed from the Centrist Reform Alliance. The 18, all House of Representatives lawmakers, are former members of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Also on Thursday, they formed a parliamentary group in the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, with 29 former CRA members hailing from Komeito. The group is the largest opposition force in the Lower House, surpassing the 28-member group led by the Democratic Party for the People. The Democratic Reform Party held its first general meeting of its lawmakers the same day, picking Yuichi Goto as Diet affairs chief and Takayuki Ochiai as policy head. Goto, as a representative of the biggest opposition group in the Lower House, will take charge of coordination with the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition. Of the 20 former CDP lawmakers who left the CRA, former CDP leader Kenta Izumi and Atsushi Oshima, former secretary-general of the now-defunct Democratic Party, have said they would not participate in the new party. But Oshima joined the new Lower House group with So Watanabe, who is now the only lawmaker of the CRA. The CRA was launched in January by then Lower House members of the CDP and Komeito, ahead of the Lower House election in February. The CRA aimed to merge with the CDP and Komeito. Following the CRA’s crushing defeat in the election, however, the planned three-way integration was canceled, and the CRA decided on its effective dissolution earlier this month. At Thursday’s general meeting, Junya Ogawa, leader of the Democratic Reform Party, apologized for the failure of Izumi and Oshima to join the party and said, “We’ll do our best to move forward together as much as possible.” Meanwhile, Komeito approved the return to the party of the 28 lawmakers who left the CRA. It plans to hold a regular convention on Oct. 3 and launch a new party structure. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
