22 Facts About Seiji Maehara

Seiji Maehara is a Japanese politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives of Japan since 1993.

Seiji Maehara founded and led the political party, Free Education for All, before its merger into Nippon Ishin no Kai on 3 October 2024.

Seiji Maehara was the leader of the Democratic Party, the successor party of the DPJ from 1 September 2017 until its dissolution later that month.

Seiji Maehara is viewed as a "China war hawk" and a proponent of close ties with the United States.

Seiji Maehara founded a new party in 2023, Free Education for All, which was broadly centrist and focused on building a coalition against the LDP.

Seiji Maehara was born in Kyoto to parents from Tottori Prefecture.

Seiji Maehara attended the law faculty of Kyoto University, where he majored in international politics.

Seiji Maehara attended the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management from 1987 to 1991.

Seiji Maehara married his wife Airi in June 1995; they have no children.

Seiji Maehara won election to the Kyoto Prefectural Assembly in 1991 with the support of, among others, future Diet member Keiro Kitagami.

Seiji Maehara was elected to the House of Representatives as a member of the Japan New Party of Morihiro Hosokawa in 1993.

Seiji Maehara was appointed Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on 16 September 2009.

Seiji Maehara had known the woman since junior high school, but her foreign nationality made the donation illegal if it had been accepted intentionally.

Seiji Maehara apologised to the nation for only holding the post for 6 months and for "provoking distrust" over his political funding.

Seiji Maehara attempted to make a comeback at the leadership in the first leadership election post-merger, but lost against former minister Renho.

Seiji Maehara was one of the candidates contesting the election, along with former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

Seiji Maehara returned as the leader of the largest opposition party almost 12 years after ascending to the post for the first time.

Seiji Maehara faced a potential rival in Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, who grew increasingly confident after her party's landslide win in the Tokyo Assembly elections and was rumoured of planning to form a conservative national party to face Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the next general election.

Koike agreed to endorse DP candidates and Seiji Maehara effectively disbanded the party in order to allow the candidates run under the Kibo banner.

Seiji Maehara resigned from his post and from the party on 28 October 2017, ending his tumultuous second term as leader of the Democratic Party.

When Kibo merged with the Democratic Party in May 2018 to form the Democratic Party for the People, Seiji Maehara joined the DPP.

Seiji Maehara became critical of party leader Yuichiro Tamaki and his approach of collaborating with the LDP, and challenged Tamaki for the DPP leadership spot in 2023, claiming that he would focus on forming a collaborative front with other opposition parties outside of the JCP.