TOKYO - Japanese opposition parties accelerated their realignment ahead of this summer's upper house election with the latest move of the formal establishment of the Minshinto, or the Democratic Party, on Sunday to confront the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The Minshinto came through the merge of two major opposition parties, namely the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and the Japan Innovation Party (JIP). With a total of 156 lawmakers in the bicameral national Diet, the newly-launched party became the largest opposition party since the Abe's administration was formed in late 2012.
Ambitiously calling the day of the party's establishment as a historic day, Katsuya Okada, who was the former DPJ leader and elected as the new party's chief, said that freedom, coexistence and responsibility for the future are the inaugural philosophy with which they start the Minshinto.
To make the new party more effective and efficient, the party appointed veteran politicians from both sides as its new executive members with Kenji Eda, a former leader of the JIP, elected as an acting party representative.
Former DPJ Secretary General Yukio Edano became the new party's secretary general, while ShioriYamao, a former DPJ member, was picked as the party's policy chief.
During the inauguration, Okada noted that the Japanese public's basic rights are threatened and the country's pacifism endangered under the Abe administration, saying the new party aims at stopping the current government's "runaway" policy and eventually toppling the Abe-led ruling camp.
Prior to the merge, together with the Japan Communist Party and Social Democratic Party, the DPJ and JIP had filed bills to the parliament demanding the retraction of the controversial security laws which will take effect on Tuesday.(Xinhua)