9 lawmakers who submitted their resignations to the ruling Democratic Party of Japan last month, in protest at DPJ leader and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s plan to raise the consumption tax, filed Wednesday to launch a new party called Kizuna
Akira Uchiyama, a House of Representatives lawmaker elected from Chiba Prefecture, registered the new party, which the nine set up last Friday, with the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. Uchiyama heads the new party, according to the sources.
The new party is entitled to state subsidies as it has more than five Diet members and was established before the start of the new year. The nation’s law stipulates state subsidies for political parties will be paid to those that exist as of Jan. 1.
