First iteration On 28 September 2017,
Democratic Party (DP) leader
Seiji Maehara announced that the party had abandoned plans to contest the
2017 Japanese general election, with the party's sitting representatives contesting the election as candidates for the
Kibō no Tō recently founded by Tokyo governor
Yuriko Koike, or as independents. On 23 October 2017, after the election, Maehara resigned as party president, with the
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) having replaced the DP as the largest opposition party in the
House of Representatives, while the existing DP caucus continued to exist in the
House of Councillors. In January 2018, the DP and the Kibō no Tō agreed to form a joint parliamentary group in both houses of the Diet, although days later the negotiations broke down. On 9 April 2018, it was announced that talks were ongoing to merge the two parties into a new opposition force. On 24 April 2018, at a joint press conference the leadership of the DP and the Kibō no Tō announced that both parties had agreed to merge in May 2018 as the National Democratic Party. The DP and Kibō no Tō on 7 May 2018, adopting Democratic Party For the People as their official English language title. DP leader
Kōhei Ōtsuka and Kibō leader
Yūichirō Tamaki became the interim co-leaders of the new party. The
2018 Democratic Party for the People leadership election was held to choose a permanent leader. Interim co-leader Tamaki was elected as the permanent leader of the party. In April 2019, the
Liberal Party merged into the Democratic Party For the People.
Second iteration In 2019, the
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan tried to absorb Democratic Party of People, but faced resistance from the party. Discussions resumed in year 2020, but due to split in opinion among members of the party at the time regarding whether to join CDPJ, it's announced on August 24 in the year both CDPJ and DPFP were dissolved and re-established as new CDPJ and DPFP, with only some of old DPFP members joining the new CDPJ. Difference in positions in policies have been cited as reason for why some members and supporting groups of DPFP did not join CDPJ at the time, including CDPJ's opposition of consumption tax cut, opposition to constitution amendment, push for zero nuclear, and that the CDPJ did not name itself as reformist-centrist. As a result of this decision, the old DPFP dissolved on 11 September 2020 and the application for dissolution submitted to the government on 14 September 2020, and the new DPFP is subsequently established on 15 September 2020, retaining the DPFP name and branding. After the establishment of new DPFP, the new party decided not to join left-leaning opposition coalition which featured CDPJ,
Japan Communist Party,
Social Democratic Party, and
Reiwa Shinsengumi, due to concern on the coalition's position regarding nuclear power, constitution reform, national security, and tax cut. Instead, the party cooperated with
Japan Innovation Party for pushing constitutional reform and
Tomin First no Kai in election. In November 2023,
Maehara Seiji and some other parliament members of the party left the party following defeat in party leadership election, criticising the executives of Democratic Party For the People at the time being too closely aligned with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), such as via the DPFP cooperating with the LDP on legislation and the DPFP intention to support the LDP's supplementary budget for the fiscal year 2024. Due to
2023–2024 Japanese slush fund scandal, the DPFP voted for support a
vote of no confidence against the Kishida cabinet of the LDP-Komeito ruling coalition at the time. Because of this opposition, Komeito and the LDP removed policy supported by the DPFP from the supplementary budget. This caused DPFP disengage from discussion with LDP and Komeito, and the party instead moved to support candidates from the CDPJ in elections against the LDP/Komeito coalition. in the
2025 Japanese House of Councillors election, the party came in second in the national popular vote and won 17 seats, surpassing
Komeito to become the fourth-largest party in the
National Diet overall. In December 2025, DPFP reached an agreement for the implementation of its own flagship policies following extensive negotiations with the government. Stating that a "relationship of trust has been fostered with Prime Minister
Sanae Takaichi", the party voted to approve the FY2026 budget proposal, even while maintaining its status as an opposition party. ==Political position and ideologies==