Japan Koizumi Wins in a Landslide

See Japan's Koizumi Wins in a Landslide

Los Angeles Times September 12, 2005
Japan's Koizumi Wins in a Landslide by Bruce Wallace, Times Staff Writer

"Prime minister's party wins a majority in lower house of parliament, after a brazen campaign that could signal a new political era.

TOKYO — Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won a crushing reelection victory Sunday, gaining sweeping political command in Japan and securing a mandate for a more thorough overhaul of the nation's sclerotic economy.

The final count gave the Japanese leader's Liberal Democratic Party 296 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament, up from its previous 212 seats.

The verdict vindicated Koizumi's gamble last month to call an election and force a showdown with lawmakers, including 37 members of his party, opposed to his plan to privatize the massive state-owned postal system.

many also saw postal reform as code for a wider referendum on whether Japan needed to change the way its government and economy operate and on whether Koizumi was the leader to make the fixes.
the sight of its leader publicly jettisoning powerful party rivals in the midst of a campaign was an unusual drama in a country renowned for its dull politics.
kicked the 37 dissident members out of the party

Koizumi's landslide nonetheless purged his party of that old guard, and sent a shot across the bow of any others who might have considered crossing him. "

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