sentences:  Okada then appointed Nagatsuma to be the party's deputy leader, a position he held even after the merger with Japan Innovation Party.After the election of Seiji Maehara as a president of the post-merger Democratic Party (DP) in September 2017, Nagatsuma was appointed as the party's election campaign committee and its Tokyo chapter chairman.Less than three weeks after the conclusion of the leadership race, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a snap general election in October.