The Democratic Party was founded in 1932, by former members of the Nationalist Party who grew dissillusioned with the party in the 1920's and finally broke away in 1932. The party initially was the main opposition party in Akitsu, even within the one party dominant system that Akitsu had at the time. The party experienced it's largest growth in the 1965 Akitian general elections, in which Akitsu adopted an MMP. Initially most of it's gains were made in the proportional-representation bloc but eventually they made gains in provincial seats as well. However, since the 1990 general election the party has shrunk in size considerably. In the 1995 general election it was eclipsed by the Liberal Democratic Party. Since then the party has continued to shrink, but the rate of losses has slowed cons