Yukiko Kada, governor of Shiga Prefecture and the founder of the Tomorrow Party , and Ichiro Ozawa, former leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, announced the split of the party in a press conference held in Otsu, capital city of Shiga Prefecture.

Kada said she would leave the Tomorrow Party with House of Representatives member Tomoko Abe to form a separate party. Ozawa will remain at the party which is renamed "Seikatsu no To" (Party of People's Lives) and headed by House of Councilors member Yuko Mori.

Kada formed the Tomorrow Party a couple of weeks ahead of the Dec. 16 lower house election. The People's Life First Party headed by Ichiro Ozawa merged with the antinuclear party soon. The party had 62 seats in the lower house before the election but only got 9 seats left after the election.

Following the party's lackluster performance in the election, bickering intensified between Kada and those close to Ozawa over whether he should co-lead the party together with Kada and eventually caused the split of the party, the reports said.