National News Parties kick off election campaigns

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Japan launched a two-week parliamentary election campaign Aug. 30, with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling party leading the polls.

The hotly contested Sept. 11 elections threatens to rob Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of power after almost 50 years of uninterrupted rule, and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan - after a strong showing in recent elections - is trying hard to unseat its rival.

The LDP has been split by defectors leaving amid disputes over Koizumi's policies, but it entered the campaign Aug. 23 with 40 percent of the public's support, nearly double the 24 percent backing the Democrats, according to a Tokyo Shimbun newspaper poll.

Running for the 480 seats in the Diet's more powerful Lower House will be 1,132 candidates. The LDP offers 346, while its junior coalition partner, the New Komeito Party, offers 52. The Democrats will have 299 names on the ballots.

Postal privatization key issue

Political sniping focuses on Koizumi's centerpiece campaign pledge to privatize the country's postal savings and insurance system.

Koizumi dissolved the Lower House on Aug. 8 and called September elections after the Upper House rejected his attempt to split up and sell the postal delivery, savings and insurance services, and create the world's largest private bank.

Democrats strike back

The Democrats have hit back with a number of their own proposed reforms - including plans to bring back Japanese troops from Iraq, cut wasteful government spending and overhaul the national pension system.

The party also opposes Koizumi's trips to Yasukuni shrine, and wants to focus on repairing damaged relations with China.

LDP recruits 'assassins'

Koizumi is battling not only the Democrats, but rebels from his own party. The LDP has recruited so-called "assassin" candidates — usually famous personalities like celebrities or business figures — to run against the defectors in their home districts.

New Komeito to back Koizumi

New Komeito Party head Takenori Kanzaki said his party will back Koizumi to pass the postal privatization bills in the next Diet if the two parties win another majority.

Reformers vs. Conservatives

Koizumi, who has stressed that he will step down if the ruling coalition does not win a majority, has tried to cast the race as a dramatic battle between reformers like himself and conservative dinosaurs in the LDP.

He has also made deft use of the media spotlight, a major shift from the days in which prime ministers and governments were made and broken in closed-door deals between the LDP's main power-brokers, with little concern for public opinion. (AP)

衆院選公示、1,132人が立候補

9月11日に投票日を迎える衆議院選挙が8月30日公示された。

Shukan ST: Sept. 9, 2005

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