A sixth party arose Tuesday from the demise of 173-member Shinshinto.
The six-member party, tentatively called Frontier Net, is likely to be led by Tatsuo Ozawa, a former health and welfare, and construction minister.
Shinshinto head Ichiro Ozawa said Tuesday the name of his new party would be the Liberal Party. Ozawa told a news conference that he reached back into history for his party's new name: It's taken from a Meiji Era party headed by Taisuke Itagaki called the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. "I want to make every effort to implement reform at a time when the country is facing difficulties, by going back to the origin of democracy," the former leader of Shinshinto said.