Toshiki Kaifu also declined the position, so Chikage Oogi, a former Takarazuka actress, was selected as party president.
[1][2][3] The New Conservative Party became part of a three-party ruling coalition with the LDP and New Komeito.
The dissolution and re-establishment of the party on December 25, 2002 created a new legal entity, unconstrained by this rule.
This allowed Hiroshi Kumagai [ja] and four other disgruntled DPJ members (Takao Satō [ja], Yoichiro Esaki, Zenjiro Kaneko and Eriko Yamatani) to form the new party together with nine members from its previous incarnation, with Kumagai becoming the party leader.
On November 10, 2003, then-Prime Minister Koizumi proposed that the NCP merge with the LDP.