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 called the 1955 System—except from 1993 to 1996, and again from 2009 to 2012.

The LDP was formed in 1955 as a merger of two conservative parties, the Liberal Party and the Japan Democratic 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 country's 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 economic difficulties led to the LDP losing power in 1993 and 1994, and governing under a non-LDP prime minister from 1994 to 1996. The LDP regained stability during the premiership of Junichiro Koizumi in the 2000s before achieving its worst-ever electoral result in the 2009 election. The party regained control of the government in a landslide victory at the 2012 election under Shinzo Abe. After the 2024 and 2025 elections the LDP currently holds 191 seats in the House of Representatives and 101 seats in the House of Councillors. In modern times, the party has typically governed in coalition with Komeito. Since the 2017 general election, the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) has been its primary opponent in national politics.

The LDP is often described as a big tent conservative party, including factions that range from moderately conservative to far-right and ultraconservative. Although lacking a cohesive political ideology, the party's platform has historically supported increased defense spending, maintaining close ties with the United States and, since the 21st century, 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. Sanae Takaichi has served as party president since 4 October 2025.

The LDP was formed in 1955 as a merger between two of Japan's political parties, the Liberal Party (自由党, Jiyutō; 1950–1955, led by Taketora Ogata) and the Japan Democratic Party (日本民主党, Nihon Minshutō; 1954–1955, led by Ichirō Hatoyama), both conservative parties, as a united front against the then popular Japan Socialist Party (日本社会党, Nipponshakaitō), now the Social Democratic Party (社会民主党, Shakaiminshutō). The party won the following elections, and Japan's first conservative government with a majority was formed by 1955. It would hold majority government until 1993.

The LDP began with reforming Japan's international relations, ranging from entry into the United Nations, to establishing diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union. Its leaders in the 1950s also made the LDP the main government party, and in all the elections of the 1950s, the LDP won the majority vote, with the only other opposition coming from left-wing politics, made up of the Japan Socialist Party and the Japanese Communist Party.

From the 1950s to the early 1970s, the United States Central Intelligence Agency spent millions of dollars to aid the LDP against leftist parties such as the Socialists and the Communists, although this was not revealed until the mid-1990s when it was exposed by The New York Times. Details remain classified, while available documents show connections to prime ministers Nobusuke Kishi and Eisaku Satō from the Satō–Kishi–Abe family.

For the majority of the 1960s, the LDP (and Japan) were led by Eisaku Satō, beginning with the hosting of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and ending in 1972 with Japanese neutrality in the Vietnam War and with the beginning of the Japanese asset price bubble. By the end of the 1970s, the LDP went into its decline, where even though it held the reins of government many scandals plagued the party, while the opposition (now joined with the Kōmeitō (1962–1998)) gained momentum.

In 1976, in the wake of the Lockheed bribery scandals, a handful of younger LDP Diet members broke away and established their own party, the New Liberal Club (Shin Jiyu Kurabu). A decade later, however, it was reabsorbed by the LDP.