Recent History
After a victory in the Japan general election, 2005, the LDP held an absolute majority in the Japanese House of Representatives and formed a coalition government with the New Komeito Party. Shinzo Abe succeeded then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as the president of the party on 20 September 2006. The party suffered a major defeat in the election of 2007, however, and lost its majority in the upper house for the first time in its history. The party's support continued to decline, and in the 2009 House of Representatives elections the LDP lost its majority, winning only 118 seats, marking the only time they would be out of the majority other than a brief period in 1993. Since that time, numerous party members have left to join other parties or form new ones, including Your Party (みんなの党, Minna no Tō?), the Sunrise Party of Japan (たちあがれ日本, Tachiagare Nippon?), and the New Renaissance Party (新党改革, Shintō Kaikaku?). The party had some success in the 2010 House of Councilors election, netting 13 additional seats and denying the DPJ a majority.
Read more about this topic: Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)
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