 In a speech Ōkuma gave at the inauguration of the party, he emphasized the symbolic role of the monarch in the type of government he envisioned.He also argued that those extremists who supported having the emperor directly involved political decision making were in fact endangering the very existence of the Imperial institution.In the first General Election of 1890, the "Kaishintō" won 46 seats to the Lower House of the Diet of Japan thus becoming the second largest party after the Liberal Party (Jiyūtō).