Former Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism Sumio Mabuchi, who ran and lost in the House of Representatives election last year as a Party of Hope candidate, announced on his blog on April 2 that he is planning to form a group called “Ichigan no Kai” consisting of some 30 former Democratic Party (DP) Diet members who lost their seats. Mabuchi will head this group and a general meeting to launch the group will be held in Tokyo in mid-April. This group is considering joining the new party that the DP is planning to form with the Party of Hope.