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Journalism of Courage
In the biggest gamble of his career, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called a September 11 election for Parliament’s Lower House on Monday, hoping to win a new mandate for reform.
The decision to call a snap poll came after ruling party rebels in Parliament’s Upper House joined the Opposition to defeat bills to privatise Japan’s vast postal system—the core of Koizumi’s agenda for change.
Koizumi is betting that a purge of those anti-reformers from the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan for most of the past half century, will allow him to forge ahead. ‘‘I see the rejection of the postal privatisation bills as a rejection of the Koizumi cabinet and the Koizumi reforms,’’ the Prime Minister told a news conference.
But the bitter split means the LDP could lose to the Opposition Democratic Party, a centrist party that argues it can succeed at reform where the LDP failed.
Koizumi ruled out cooperating with those who oppose the privatisation bills saying he would step down if the LDP and its junior coalition partner, the New Komeito, failed to win a majority. He said anti-reform lawmakers would not be approved as LDP candidates. Koizumi sees postal privatisation as crucial to his broader goal of weaning the LDP from wasteful public spending that won votes but spawned scandals and inflated debt.
