Jiji Press TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Democratic Party of Japan and the Japan Innovation Party decided Friday that the English name of the party to be created through their mergers will be the Democratic Party.

The name, to be abbreviated as DP, was decided at a meeting of a joint merger council comprising the top leaders and secretaries general of the DPJ, the largest opposition party, and the JIP, its smaller peer.

“To ‘progress with the people’ is what democratic is,” said Yukio Edano, secretary general of the DPJ, to reporters, explaining the connection between the new party’s Japanese and English names.

The new party will be called “Minshinto” in Japanese, “min-shin” meaning people and progress, and “to” signifying party.

The JIP side proposed that the English name be the Democratic Innovation Party.Speech