In 2016's gubernatorial election, Governor Koike was elected as the Governor with membership of the Liberal Democratic Party even though she was not the official candidate of the party. Then, she formed a regional party: Tomin First no Kai, which was founded for the 2017 metropolitan election. The Komeito party supported Governor Koike in the metropolitan council, even though they were part of the coalition government with the LDP at the national level. On 28 September 2017, the leader of the oppositionDemocratic Party, Seiji Maehara, announced that the party had abandoned plans to contest the 2017 general election on 22 October. The DP caucus in the House of Representatives disbanded, with many of the party's existing representatives contesting the election as candidates for Kibō no Tō. This led to the split on 2 October 2017 of the Constitutional Democratic Party, which consists of left-leaning and liberal DP politicians whom Koike had rejected as Kibō no Tō candidates. On 10 November 2017, the party held a leadership election to elect a co-leader of the party. Yūichirō Tamaki was elected in the caucus election by a margin of 39 to 14. Koike resigned as party leader on 14 November 2017 as a result of the poor performance in the general election, leaving Tamaki as a sole leader. On 24 April 2018, the leadership of Kibō and the Democratic Party announced in a joint press conference that both parties agreed to merge in May 2018 under the name Democratic Party for the People. Several factions in both parties do not plan to join the new party. The members of these factions are expected to form their own splinter party, join other parties or become independents.
Post-DPFP merger reestablishment
Prior to the merger, right-wing members of Kibō led by Shigefumi Matsuzawa stated that they intended to form a separate party that retains the Kibō no Tō name. The party was formed on 7 May 2018, on the same day with the DPFP merger. On 5 June 2018, Former Secretary-general Kuniko Koda left the party, so Kibō no Tō lost its legal status as a political party and became a political organization. On 28 May 2019, Matsuzawa resigned as party leader, and Nariaki Nakayama became a new party leader.
