Japan parliament set to re-elect Koizumi as PM

By Masayuki Kitano

TOKYO (Reuters) – A special session of Japan’s parliament
was set to re-elect Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister on
Wednesday following a landslide win by his Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP) in an election this month.

Ahead of the vote, members of Koizumi’s cabinet tendered
their resignations but all are expected to be re-appointed when
he forms a new cabinet after his re-election by the lower house
in a session that was due to start at 1 p.m. (0400 GMT).

Koizumi has vowed to press ahead with privatisation of the
postal system, a financial services giant with $3 trillion in
assets, after the LDP’s stunning victory in the September 11
general election, which he had cast as a referendum on postal
reform.

Koizumi, who has said he has no plans to stay on once his
tenure as LDP president expires next September, has said he
will re-submit the postal bills quickly and is expected to
reshuffle his cabinet once they are passed.

Parliament is expected to sit until November 1, and media
reports said a cabinet reshuffle could take place after that.

“Enactment of postal privatisation bills is the top item on
the agenda,” LDP secretary general Tsutomu Takebe told
reporters.

The bills — a pillar of Koizumi’s reform agenda — are
expected to be voted on in October and appear certain to be
passed.

The LDP took 296 seats in the powerful 480-seat lower
house, the first time it has won a majority in 15 years, after
Koizumi dissolved the chamber and called elections following
defeat of the postal bills in the upper house when LDP rebels
voted with the opposition.

A media survey published on Wednesday underscored the
strength of public support for Koizumi and hopes for reform.

Koizumi’s support rating rose to 62 percent in a survey by
the Yomiuri newspaper over the weekend, up 14.3 percentage
points from a similar survey in August, the Yomiuri said.

Disapproval of Koizumi fell to 29.9 percent, down 10.9
points from August, the newspaper said.

Asked to choose issues they wanted the Koizumi cabinet to
give priority to, 61 percent of respondents said social
security reform, followed by 57 percent who wanted steps to
improve the economy.

Other top responses related to North Korea and steps to
deal with a declining birthrate, the paper said. Postal
privatisation came ninth among 17 choices of answer.