Posted on 08/08/2005 1:41:25 AM PDT by snowsislander
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is reportedly set to call an election for September 11, after parliament's upper house rejected one of his core reforms, a bid to privatise Japan's postal system.
Media outlets in Japan have reported that Mr Koizumi met with leaders of his bitterly-divided Liberal Democratic Party after the upper house vote and said he would dissolve the lower house for an election.
"We will select candidates for all electoral districts," he said, according to Jiji Press.
He reportedly said he would not approve those who opposed the postal reforms.
The LDP has governed for most of the past half century, and is also in danger of losing at the polls for the powerful lower house, according to commentators.
Takenori Kanzaki, leader of junior ruling coalition party the New Komeito told reporters that Mr Koizumi had told the party the election would be held on September 11.
The prime minister has been trying to push an aggressive reform agenda, including a plan to split Japan Post into four units under a state-owned holding company in 2007.
The reforms were voted down 125-108 after they were narrowly passed by the lower house last month.
Around 22 anti-reform LDP members reportedly joined with the opposition in voting against the bills, indicating the depth of divisions within the party.
Mr Koizumi has reportedly said he will destroy the old-style part and forge ahead with a new LDP, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Mr Koizumi, who is Japan's longest-serving prime minister in two decades, earlier had repeated his threat to dissolve the lower house and hold a general election.
He has said privatisation is vital to make investment flows more efficient ands to remove distortion from the financial system.
Japan Post has nearly 25,000 offices and 260,000 employees. Many people use it as a bank and it has more than three trillion dollars in assets.
Its insurance business alone is as big as Japan's four biggest life insurers combined.
ping
What DOESN'T the Japanese post office do?
Give interest on savings !
They can DO that? Imagine the mischief if Clintbilly could have had the House of Representatives turned over, overnight.
It's a standard Parlaimentary tactic used by Prime Ministers, Kings, Queens, and Governor-Generals, and even in some Presidential republics. Parlaimentary systems are designed to work. If a government bill gets repeatedly shut down by the opposistion and government backbenchers, then the government has lost the confidence of the lower House and a new election must be called to resolve this impasse.
However, in some cases a new election is not needed as the sovireign can appoint a Prime Minister from another party to form a minority government or even a care-taker government.
C'mon, what's wrong with 0.005%?
http://www.yu-cho.japanpost.jp/cgi-bin/rateautchg.cgi?2
Gator ...Miss you man ! 0.005% ...Only in Japan ...And the P.O. has three trill ? Phew !
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