The Democratic Party of Japan, which was in power for three years and three months from September 2009 to December 2012, seemed to lack the sensitivity to listen to "silent voices" of the voters whose dissatisfaction had accumulated over a protracted economic stagnation.
Liberalism was the central theme of the party's manifesto for the 2009 Lower House election. But its emphasis was placed disproportionately on measures to equalize the distribution of wealth, such as making public high school tuition free and granting allowances to parents of every child up to ninth graders. The party failed to pay sufficient attention to economic growth and employment — issues that would be the top priorities for a liberal administration in Western countries.
There were two main factors that led the DPJ, which won the 2009 election in a landslide, to suffer a crushing defeat in the 2012 Lower House election: