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| Saturday, 11 October 2003 |
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Japan PM sets stage for November election TOKYO, Friday (Reuters) Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved parliament's lower house on Friday for an election that will test whether he can carry the conservative ruling party to a big win and gain a new mandate for his reforms. Lower House lawmakers shouted the traditional "Banzai" ("long life") after House Speaker Tamisuke Watanuki read out the dissolution order at a plenary session of the powerful chamber. Koizumi had already told his two coalition partners the election would be held on November 9, the head of the number two party in the ruling camp, the Buddhist-backed New Komeito, told reporters after meeting the prime minister. "The voting date is November 9, so it will be a one-month battle. The election will be a reform election, so to speak," Takenori Kanzaki quoted Koizumi as saying. The general election will be the first since Koizumi swept to power in 2001 on a wave of grassroots support for his reform agenda to rein in public spending, privatise postal services and money-guzzling public firms, and fix Japan's ailing banks. Buoyed by signs that Japan's stagnant economy is at last recovering, the LDP is counting on traditional backers such as farmers and small business owners plus Koizumi's popularity, to help it keep a majority in the 480-seat Lower House. A recent surge in the value of the yen to three-year highs against the dollar has, however, clouded the outlook for the export-led recovery. |
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