Koizumi fires first shots in campaign

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, front, gestures as he delivers a speech while campaigning for the Sept. 11 general election in Itami, western Japan yesterday while Environment Minister Yuriko Koike, back, listens. PHOTO: AFP

Riding on strong public support, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi yesterday launched his campaign for next month's general elections which are seen as a crucial vote on his privatization of the powerful post office.

Koizumi, the longest-serving Japanese premier in a generation, flew to the western prefecture of Hyogo to deliver his first campaign speech for the all-important lower house elections on Sept. 11.

Before the election tour, the prime minister visited Hyogo's Amagasaki where Japan's worst train accident in more than four decades occurred in late April, killing 107 people and injuring 460.

Economic argument

Koizumi said on Friday that breaking up the post office was the top issue in the elections, arguing that privatizing what is effectively the world's biggest financial institution was crucial in boosting Japan's economy.

Many Japanese use the post office, which has more than US$3 trillion in assets, for savings and insurance.

"Privatization of the post office is the first step toward the reconstruction of Japan's politics and economy," Koizumi said on Friday after his ruling Liberal Democratic Party issued its platform for next month's vote.

"We need this reform for the sake of economic recovery, political reform, financial reform, administrative reform, fiscal reform," he said.

Cornerstone policy

Since taking office four years ago, Koizumi, who has published two books on the postal reform, made the postal privatization the cornerstone of his policy agenda.

Japan Post's massive assets are largely invested in bonds that are used to finance public-works projects popular in lawmakers' constituencies.

But privatization could mean job cuts and an end to government benefits for postal employees. Some critics fear that service could be curtailed in unprofitable rural areas where the Japan Post is particularly influential.

On Aug. 8, the upper house of parliament rejected Koizumi's bills to privatize the post office when 30 lawmakers from his own party voted against it or did not show up.

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) -- which has ruled Japan almost uninterrupted since the end of World War II -- enjoys wide support from the post's 270,000 workers, who are reputed to be able to mobilize 1 million votes in a national election.

Rebels

After the upper house's rejection, Koizumi immediately dissolved the lower house and called the general elections, defying LDP stalwarts who warned him that postal privatization could give the opposition a chance to oust the party

But poll after poll taken after Koizumi dissolved the lower house has shown rising public support for his Cabinet with a growing number of voters showing interest in the postal reforms.

Approval rating up

The latest survey by Japan's top-selling Yomiuri Shimbun paper showed the approval rating for Koizumi rose to 53.2 percent from 47.7 percent in a poll taken immediately after the dissolution of the lower house.