Kizuna Party
The Kizuna Party was a center-left political party in Japan that was formed in January 2012. The party was created by nine the House of Representatives members who resigned from Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Democratic Party of Japan on December 30, 2011, in protest of the latter's decision to raise to country's consumption tax rate from 5% to 10% in two years.
The new party was formed on January 4, 2012, and led by Akira Uchiyama, the member for the Chiba 7th district in Chiba Prefecture. The party opposed both the proposed consumption tax increase and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement. The party dissolved less than a year later in November 2012 and merged with the People's Life First party, another party that had been formed in 2012 in the lead up to the December 2012 general election.
Motions against Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda
On August 3, 2012, the Kizuna Party in concert with six other minor opposition parties agreed to submit a no confidence motion against Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in an effort to block the passage of the bill raising Japan's consumption tax from 5% to 10%. In the Japanese diet the support of 51 lawmakers is required to submit a co-confidence motion to the lower house. The motion was submitted to the lower house on August 7, along with a censure motion against Noda. The main opposition Liberal [Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party] was also considering its own no-confidence motion and censure motions if Noda did not agree to call a general election. The no-confidence motion was voted down 246 to 86, with the DPJ voting against and the LDP and its partner New Komeito deciding to be absent from the vote after Noda agreed to hold elections "soon".On August 29, 2012, the House of Councillors passed a censure motion against Noda based on the one previously submitted by the seven opposition parties. The LDP and New Komeito had also been preparing their own censure motion but in the end the LDP, which had supported Noda's consumption tax increase, supported the censure motion of the other seven parties, while New Komeito abstained. While the censure motion was non-binding, the opposition parties planned to boycott the remaining sitting days before the diet session finished on September 8, preventing further legislation from being passed.