Main Japan Opposition Party Disbands; New Group Vowed
In a move that could backfire by giving a lift to the slumping prime minister, the leader of Japan’s largest opposition party dissolved his group Saturday and promised to reemerge in a stronger form.
The New Frontier Party’s breakup was seen as an attempt to create a new grouping free of the squabbling that has prevented it from taking advantage of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto’s problems, including a sputtering economy.
Ichiro Ozawa, the party’s president, vowed to put together a new party with his most loyal backers as early as Jan. 5.
“We aim to form a reincarnated group which can truly fight to carry out the ideals and policies of the New Frontier Party,” Ozawa told reporters. “It’s best that we enter the new year feeling refreshed.”
Ozawa, 55, is likely to try to align his group with a disgruntled conservative faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. That faction has been at odds with a group close to Hashimoto that favors an alliance with two minority liberal partners in the coalition government.
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