Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP; Japanese: 自由民主党, romanized: Jiyū-Minshutō), also known as Jimintō (自民党), is a major conservative and nationalist political party in Japan. Since its foundation in 1955, the LDP has been in power almost continuously—a period known as the 1955 System—except from 1993 to 1996, and again from 2009 to 2012. Sanae Takaichi has served as president of the LDP since 4 October 2025. She heads a coalition government with the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) since 21 October 2025.

The LDP was formed in 1955 as a merger of two conservative parties, the Liberal Party and the Japan Democratic Party as a united front against the Japan Socialist Party, and was initially led by prime minister Ichirō Hatoyama. The LDP supported Japan's alliance with the United States and fostered close links between Japanese business and government, playing a major role in the Japanese economic miracle from the 1960s to early 1970s and subsequent stability under prime ministers including Hayato Ikeda, Eisaku Satō, Kakuei Tanaka, Takeo Fukuda, and Yasuhiro Nakasone. Scandals and the burst of the Japanese asset price bubble led to the LDP losing power in 1993 and 1994, and governing under a non-LDP prime minister from 1994 before regaining power in 1996. In 1999, the party led the LDP–Komeito coalition, which lasted for the next 26 years.

The LDP regained stability during the premiership of Junichiro Koizumi in the 2000s, gaining significant amount of seats in 2005, before achieving its worst-ever electoral result in 2009, where the Democratic Party of Japan gained a majority. In 2012, the party under Shinzo Abe regained control of the government with a landslide victory, although it lost seats in subsequent elections. Since 2017, the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) has been its primary opponent in national politics. After the 2024 and 2025 elections, the LDP lost its majority in both houses of the National Diet, and its coalition with Komeito broke down, leading it to form the LDP–JIP coalition. Led by Takaichi, the party regained a majority in the House of Representatives, winning the biggest number of seats in Japanese electoral history in 2026, holding 316 seats in the House of Representatives and 101 seats in the House of Councillors.

The LDP is often described as a big tent conservative party, including factions that range from moderate conservatism to far-right and ultraconservative. Although lacking a cohesive political ideology, the party's platform has historically supported increased defense spending, revising Article 9 of the Constitution to codify the status of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, maintaining close ties with the United States and since the 21st century also pursuing close relations with its Indo-Pacific allies to counter the rise of China as a superpower. The party's history and internal composition has been characterized by intense factionalism among its members since its emergence in 1955.