The Democratic Liberal Party (民主自由党, Minshu-jiyūtō) was a political party in Japan.
Democratic Liberal Party
民主自由党
Minshu-jiyūtō | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Shigeru Yoshida |
| Founded | 15 March 1948[1] |
| Dissolved | 1 March 1950[2] |
| Merger of | Liberal Party[3] Minshu Club[3] |
| Merged into | Liberal Party[3] |
| Headquarters | Tokyo |
| Ideology | Conservatism[3] |
|
| |
The party was established in March 1948 as a merger of the Liberal Party, Dōshi Club and a faction of the Democratic Party led by Saitō Takao.[4] United by their opposition to the coal nationalisation law, the new party had 152 MPs and 46 members of the House of Councillors.[4]
As a result of the DLP's attempts to block Yamazaki Takeshi from forming a new government after Hitoshi Ashida resigned as Prime Minister, the party's Shigeru Yoshida became Prime Minister in October 1948 and early elections were called in January 1949.[4] The DLP won a landslide victory, taking 269 of the 466 seats, the first time a party had held a majority of seats since World War II.[4] Shigeru Yoshida continued as Prime Minister.
In March 1950 the party merged with the Alliance faction of the Democratic Party to form the new Liberal Party.[5]
| # | Name | Portrait | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shigeru Yoshida | 
|
15 March 1948 | 1 March 1950 |
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | Position | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Shigeru Yoshida | 13,420,269 | 43.87 |
264 / 466
|
1st | Government |