After weeks of intense debate, the Democratic Party of Japan and Ishin no To (Japan Innovation Party) are finally on the verge of sorting out the first daunting challenge of their scheduled merger later this month: what to name their new party?
After asking the public to send suggestions for a new name last week, the two parties have whittled about 20,000 responses down to the two most popular: "Rikken Minshu To" (tentatively translated as "Constitutional and Democratic Party") and "Minshin To" (tentatively translated as "Progressive Democratic Party"), with the former endorsed by the DPJ and the latter by Ishin no To.
The parties will reportedly choose one to adopt Monday based on the result of an opinion poll to be conducted over the weekend.