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Koizumi may retire next September
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-23 06:15
The representative of the ruling party usually becomes prime minister because
the post is chosen by a vote in parliament.
The LDP insists that the election is a referendum on privatizing Japan Post,
a giant financial institution with more than US$3 trillion in assets.
The LDP has tapped a string of celebrity candidates, who have been labelled
assassins, to run against party rebels and woo unaffiliated voters who have been
key to recent elections.
Prominent among them are Takafumi Horie, a 32-year-old maverick CEO and
founder of high-flying Internet portal Livedoor Co, and Yuriko Koike, a former
television anchorwoman and now environment minister.
The LDP's celebrity tactic has sparked some criticism. Opposition Democratic
Party leader Katsuya Okada, however, said fixing Japan's pension system,
creaking due to a falling birth rate and ageing population, should be the top
priority.
"For those who think the current pension system isn't
working, we want you to vote for the Democratic Party and let us carry through
pension reforms under a Democratic administration," Okada said in a campaign
speech in Ibaraki, north of Tokyo.
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