http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aifi72x8rQNo
LDP Wins Japan Elections; Koizumi Gets Mandate for Postal Sale Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's Liberal Democratic Party won national elections, giving Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi an extension to his four and a half year term in office and the mandate to sell the state-owned post office, the world's biggest financial institution. Koizumi's party and coalition partner New Komeito won a majority 282 seats in the latest official count, while the opposition had 81. The LDP alone has a majority of 256 seats in the lower house. An exit poll earlier by national broadcaster NHK predicted Koizumi's coalition may win many as 361 seats in the 480-seat lower house. Koizumi called the elections when the upper house of parliament last month rejected a bill to sell Japan Post, which has the equivalent of $3.2 trillion in savings accounts and insurance policies. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average has gained 7.7 percent since Koizumi called the election on Aug. 8 and closed at a 4-year high on Friday amid speculation Koizumi would win. ``It's King Koizumi and the end of the two party dream,'' Jesper Koll, Tokyo-based chief economist for Japan at Merrill Lynch & Co. ``Nobody in the upper house now is going to be able to say no'' to selling the post office. Partner Even with a majority for the LDP alone in the lower house, Koizumi's party needs partner New Komeito to maintain control of the upper house where it has a minority holding 114 of the 242 seats. New Komeito has 24 lawmakers in the chamber, which will hold elections for half the members in 2007. Koizumi dropped 37 members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party as candidates after they voted against the sale and said the elections would be a referendum on his policies. ``The LDP could be in power for still a very long time to come,'' said Kenneth Courtis, vice chairman for Asia at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Koizumi ``now has a very powerful mandate for reform, which I see announcing a period of broad scale change where virtually everything will be up for grabs.'' Vindication ``Koizumi's policies have been vindicated,'' said Roger Buckley, author of ``Japan Today,'' and a research fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University. ``He's reversed what's been going on for decades, which is a decline in LDP support and its dependence on coalitions,'' Buckley said. ``It's a major success and an individual one. The postal reform bill is certain to pass.'' Katsuya Okada, leader of the DPJ, said he would step down if his party failed to win a majority in the election. ``Okada will have to decide himself what he will do,'' Edano said, when asked whether Okada will step down. ``If the coalition gets more than a majority then it means the people back the sale of Japan Post,'' Shinzo Abe, the acting secretary general of the LDP said on NHK. The LDP will keep its partnership with the New Komeito and will seek an extraordinary session of parliament to get approval to sell the postal services, he said. ``The first thing to do is to get the postal bill passed,'' Koizumi said on NHK. Dropping Candidates Shizuka Kamei, who was dropped from the LDP as a candidate for opposing the postal bill, retained his seat in Hiroshima's sixth district, defeating political newcomer and Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie, NHK said. Kamei formed the New People's Party, which may win 3 seats, NTV said. Koizumi retained his seat, Kyodo News reported. The LDP coalition had 283 seats before the election was called while the opposition controlled 176. A majority of 269 seats is enough to gain control of all the lower house committees. Voter turnout was 65.64 percent, Kyodo reported, compared with 59.86 percent in the last election. The upper house will be unable to oppose the postal bill if Koizumi wins by a landslide, said Yoshimasa Maruyama, an economist at BNP Paribas Securities in Tokyo. ``With a victory of this magnitude, the question will be whether Koizumi will step down next September as he has said he will.'' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
