Ishin no To (Japan Innovation Party), Japan's third-biggest opposition party, re-elected Yorihisa Matsuno as president Sunday during a convention in Tokyo, as it looked likely to form a joint parliamentary group in the Diet with the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition force.

Matsuno, 55, bested Jiro Ono, 62, chairman of the party's executive council.

Matsuno had pledged to form a kaiha joint parliamentary group with the DPJ by the end of the year, with executives from that party indicating their willingness to join forces with Ishin no To.