The Minsei Party, also known as the Constitutional Democratic Party, was a market liberal party in Japan which existed from 1 June 1927 to 15 August 1940. The party called for rule by the Diet of Japan instead of by the bureaucrats, the elimination of disparities in wealth, international cooperation, and protection of personal liberties. The urban middle class was the main base of support for the party, but the zaibatsu of the Mitsubishi company provied much of its financial backing. The party opposed the 1931 Mukden Incident, which was provoked by the Imperial Japanese Army, but the party joined Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe's Imperial Rule Assistance Association on 15 August 1940, heeding his calls to build a one-party state.
The party's main constituencies were urban middle-class professionals, intellectuals, and labor unions, while its rivals, the Seiyukai Party, had the support of wealthy landowners, industrialists, and rural elites and had strong ties to the bureaucracy and military.
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